Paperwoman
by LochNessie17
Summary: What would you do if you found the girl of your dreams on the way to work one morning only to have her leave before you could even ask for her name? What if you found out that very same girl works in the building across the street and her office is located just a couple of stories below yours? (Based on two short films: Disney's 'Paperman' and 'Signs' by Patrick Hughes.)
1. A Chance Meeting

Santana Lopez was by no means a morning person, but for some unknown reason, today felt like it was going to be different.

First thing that alluded to this idea what the fact that the young Latina was running unusually early for work, meaning she would have time to stop by her favorite local coffee shop instead of settling for the cheap store-bought coffee her coworkers brewed at the office.

The woman had just walked into the train station while on her daily commute to work when she found her favorite spot on the platform unoccupied, causing a small, content smile to appear on her face. The universe was definitely on her side today. Not wasting any time, she swiftly made her way over to quietly wait for the arrival of her train.

Santana had only been standing there for about five minutes when she was unexpectedly jolted out of her thoughts. Looking down, she noticed a piece of paper that had blown against the shoulder of her blazer before quickly fluttering past her.

The brunette's eyes began to follow what she thought was merely a stray piece of trash when the blur of a person came running past her. Before she knew it, she found her eyes trained on a tall blonde-haired woman who had managed to track down and capture the loose piece of paper.

Placing it on top of the others piled in her arms, the blonde turned around and started walking back towards where the Latina stood. The woman must have felt Santana's gaze, however, because her bright blue eyes suddenly shot up to meet deep brown.

In that moment, Santana swore she felt her heart stop at least once. Maybe even twice. Luckily for the Latina, the deep blush that appeared on her face was hidden behind olive skin as she dropped her focus back to the ground.

The other woman eventually made her way back and took a spot about two feet to away from the brunette, who was doing everything in her power to focus on something other than the person standing beside her. She was failing miserably.

That was when one of the papers from the stack in _Santana's_ arms got away from her. Looking up to see where it had gone to, she found it planted directly onto the face of the girl beside her. Instantly reaching up to remove the paper, she began trying to stutter out an apology.

"O-oh my goodness! I am so- I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Their eyes met yet again as soon as the paper was gone, and everything stopped for the brunette.

Her attempted apology, thought process, and ability to breath… All gone.

The blonde gave a slight nod with a shy but sincere smile and breathed out a quiet, "It's alright. No worries." The other woman continued to stare a moment longer before slowly looking forward once more, and Santana couldn't help but watch as the mystery woman's smile grew a little wider.

Santana had to meet this girl. She didn't know what it was about her, but she just had to talk to her somehow. Taking in a deep breath, Santana decided to try and start a conversation by introducing herself, but when she did, she noticed that the woman was gone.

Quickly stumbling backwards, Santana turned to find the girl entering the train behind her. The woman's long blonde hair floating carelessly in the wind was the last thing she saw before the doors of the train cars closed, and a moment later, the train began to leave the station.

Once the train was out of sight, the brunette realized that her day somehow didn't seem as bright anymore, but she decided to try to put it behind her and continue going about her day.

That was when she looked down to find the piece of paper still held in her grasp. Lifting it up to get a good look, she noticed a faint lip gloss imprint and figured that it must have come from it being blown against Mystery Girl's face.

Santana couldn't stop the big, goofy grin that was slowly making it's way across her face as she stared down at the lip print left on the blank accounting form, not that she wanted to.

* * *

The Latina didn't have to wait long for her train to arrive, and before she knew it, she was getting off at her stop. Heading around the corner to the coffee shop, she picked up a venti peppermint mocha and continued her commute towards the same small accounting firm she has worked at for the past three years.

After taking an elevator to the appropriate floor, she walked over to her cubicle and placed the stack of papers she had been carrying on top of the desk. She then took the 'kissed' form and gently placed it to the side before taking a seat.

The workload for the day was relatively light, which enabled her to take her time. After a couple of hours of diligent work, however, she decided to take a small five minute break. The woman turned to the side and reclined back slightly in her chair as she looked out the large, open window beside her desk.

The window was probably her favorite thing about her little work area because it allowed her to trade in the sounds of copy machines and tapping of keyboards for the sound of cars and street life below. There was also a wonderful breeze that would come drifting past her every once in a while, bringing a breath of fresh air from outside the stuffy office space with it.

All of these variables provided an easy, relaxed atmosphere for the brunette, and before she knew it, the accountant was getting lost in a daydream about a nameless woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.

A little while later, she darted her eyes over to the clock on her desk and almost spat out the coffee she had been absentmindedly sipping on once she realized that thirty minutes had passed. The woman quickly made a move to turn back to her computer but didn't get far when something suddenly caught her eye.

Looking to the building across from hers, she spotted two people walking into a small office. Allowing her eyes to focus a little bit, she was able to distinguish that one was an older gentleman and the other was a young woman. That was when she noticed that this wasn't just any woman.

"It's her," she whispered quietly to herself.

The girl who had captured her thoughts was currently standing inside an office across the street that was only two floors down from the brunette's place of work.

The Latina felt as if the Heavens had just opened up for her while her mind raced to find a way to get the other girl's attention.

That was when the CPA's gaze landed on the stack of blank accounting forms beside her.

'_I could always make more copies later, right?' _

With that thought, she grabbed the first piece of paper sitting on top of the pile and began folding it into the desired confirmation she had in mind. After a few minutes, she was looking at the very first paper airplane she had made since high school.

She momentarily flashed back to the days of sitting in class, silently flying small paper planes into the back of the heads of the kids she used to terrorize on a daily basis. Though she wasn't exactly proud of the person she used to be during her HBIC days, she knew that she had damn near perfected the art of paper airplane making because of it. Now, she just hoped all those days of practice would payoff and that she hadn't lost her touch.

The first few planes went a little wayward. The next few weren't even close.

The brunette became hopeful as she watched the fourteenth airplane she threw make a direct beeline towards its target until a bird came flying out of nowhere and knocked into it.

_'What the hell, you stupid ass bird? I swear Auntie Snix going to hunt down your sorry ass and make you into pigeon stew if I don't end up getting her attention!' _she yelled out in her head after witnessing the scene before turning to start on her next attempt.

Time and time again, she watched her creations miss their mark.

Heaving a sigh of frustration, she reached out blindly to the pile to make another, but her hand was met with the cool wooden surface of her desk. When she turned her head, she found an empty desktop and realized that she had thrown away the entire stack. She almost gave up all hope until her eyes landed on the piece of paper with a faint lip gloss mark that would serve as her last hope.

Santana put absolutely all of her focus into making sure that the plane was flawless. When the moment came to throw away what may be her final chance at getting in touch with the blonde, she took a deep steadying breath and sent up a quick prayer to whoever was listening.

She stood still for a moment longer before letting the piece of paper fly out of her hand.

The plane's path was steady and graceful as it headed straight for the office window Santana had been aiming for. Though she couldn't hear the tap of the plane hitting glass because of all the background noise coming from both the office and outside, she could most certainly see the blonde give a small jump in surprise. Standing up from her desk, the stranger stood up and walked over to the window to check that everything was alright.

Santana thought her plan had surely backfired when the blonde seemed to look everywhere but up, but when the girl finally did, blue eyes met brown almost instantaneously. It was as if the girl knew Santana had been standing there all along and had finally decided to humor her by meeting her gaze. That theory was quickly disproven, however, when Santana saw the blonde's eyebrow quirk in confusion.

Thinking on her feet, the brunette dashed to grab a dry erase board from inside her desk drawer and wrote out the first thing that popped into her mind before flipping it towards the girl, "_Hi."_

At first, the blonde just stood there, wide-eyed and unmoving. Santana quickly erased the message before the woman thought she was a creeper and decided to shut her blinds on her or something, "_I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't remember me, but we stood next to one another at the train station this morning... Remember?"_

When the woman still showed no signs of replying, or even moving for that matter, the Latina dejectedly turned the board back towards herself and prepared herself to write an apology for disturbing the blonde but was caught off guard when an apple-shaped stress ball came flying past her head.

Looking down to see where the object had come from, Santana found the woman opposite her was slightly out of breath and standing in front of her own opened window with a crumpled piece of paper with three words written out big enough to where Santana would be able to see it, _"I remember you."_

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_I just wanted to quickly say that this chapter is based of off the Disney short film 'Paperman.' This story__ has been an idea in my head since the I first watched 'Paperman,' __but I was a little apprehensive to write it because I have never really written Brittana fanfiction before, let alone attempting to write something with the intention of showing other people. I finally decided to give it a try, though, so I really hope you enjoyed the fic. There's more to come in the future, so feel free to stay tuned!_

_Thanks again!_


	2. The Paper Airplane

"_I remember you."_

Santana couldn't tear her eyes away from the piece of paper holding those words. The exact words she had been dying to see, written out in black and white.

'_She remembers me,' _she thought as a huge grin spread across her face.

When she looked back up to the winded woman, she found a smile that mirrored as hers, making her hope that the blonde was just as excited as the Latina to have found each other again.

Suddenly snapping out of her blissful daze, the brunette wiped off her half written apology on the dry erase board and wrote out a replacement message before flipping it to where the blonde could read it, "_Thank goodness. I was beginning to think that I had just made a complete fool out of myself, which is something I don't handle too well. My name is Santana, by the way."_

The woman opposite her gave a quick, excited nod before holding up a finger, asking for Santana to give her a second. Without waiting for a response, the girl dashed over to her desk and pulled out her own dry erase board. She began jotting something down as she made her way back over to the window, showing it to the brunette once she was finished, "_Sorry, that piece of paper was all I had within reach when I finally snapped out of it and realized that I should probably answer your question. I like using this white board a lot better, though. Now, I can save a few trees. Haha! Oh, and I'm Brittany. Brittany S. Pierce. You know, kind of like Britney Spears but not since I'm way more talented. Clearly. "_

The blonde somehow managed to hold a completely serious face before cracking into a smile to show she was just kidding. The girl's antics instantly threw Santana into a fit of giggles, which resulted in a few strange looks from her coworkers. Not that the Latina noticed. She was much too wrapped up in getting to know her new acquaintance to acknowledge anyone else.

Deciding to humor the other girl, Santana quickly wrote out, "I'm sure you are."

"Oh, I most definitely am. Promise," Brittany sent back with a small wink, effectively causing the brunette to go a bit weak at the knees while her stomach dropped.

'_I swear this girl should come with a freaking warning label. It hasn't even been a full day yet, and she's making me feel as if I'm either going into heart failure or riding inside an elevator. Let's just hope she doesn't have any lasting side effects or else I'm going to be in some serious trouble.' _ She then decided that it would probably be in her best interest to have a paramedic on standby just in case she ever found herself in the blonde's presence. Despite the health risks, however, the Latina hoped that there would eventually come a day when she would have an opportunity to officially meet the girl who had swept her off her feet.

The two women spoke for a little while longer before Santana regretfully announced that she had to get back to work.

Though she genuinely tried to focus on the task at hand, the brunette's mind was constantly on the blonde. Every five to ten minutes, she would find her brown eyes drifting back over to where Brittany sat behind her desk. It was as if her body thought the woman was going to disappear right back out of her life and desperately needed to convince itself otherwise.

It didn't seem like she was the only one who was experiencing this, though, because there would also be times when her gaze was met with a pair of blue eyes, which would result in them both exchanging a couple of bashful smiles.

The rest of the afternoon followed a similar pattern, causing each of their productivity levels to reach an all time low.

Once five o'clock had finally arrived, Santana began packing up her things and getting ready to head home. Before she stepped away from her desk, she glanced over to Brittany's office. The blonde almost instantly met her gaze with a smile, mouthing out a good-bye that was accompanied with a small wave.

The Latina immediately returned the gesture, thinking, "_I could definitely get used to this."_

* * *

For the second day in a row, Santana had woken up fully rested and running early on her way to work. She arrived at the office in record time, though she wouldn't allow her mind to reason out _why_ she practically raced straight to the building.

Once she made it to her desk, she threw down everything she had been carrying in her arms and glanced over to see if Brittany had made it to her office yet. Spotting that the lights were still off in the small room, Santana opted to go pour herself a cup of second-rate coffee.

Within the first sip, she began to regret her decision to skip a trip to the coffee shop despite having an ample amount of time to do so. Santana quickly brushed those thoughts away, however, when she remembered the reason behind reporting straight to work. She was willing to put up with the subpar brew for the rest of her career at the firm if it meant getting there early every morning to see the blonde.

While in the break room, Santana also noticed that someone had supplied her and her coworkers with the ingredients necessary to make breakfast burritos. If she had to guess, she'd put her money on her boss, who absolutely loved to spoil his workers. This was yet another reason why she loved working for the small, well-respected accounting firm.

Arriving back at her desk with her coffee and breakfast burrito in hand, the Latina glanced out the window once again and found Brittany preparing herself for the day ahead. Taking out the small white board, she wrote out a simple, "_Good morning,"_ and placed it on the window sill for Brittany to see while the brunette got started on her work.

A couple minutes later, she looked over to find Brittany standing in front of her window with her dry erase board in hand, "_Good morning to you, too! How are you today?"_

"_I'm good. How about yourself?"_

The blonde smiled at her response right before her face lit up, as if she had just remembered something, "_I'm doing swell. Oh and by the way, I saw the strangest thing while leaving work yesterday and wanted to tell you about it. Do you have a minute?"_

Santana smiled at the blonde's enthusiasm, "_Yeah, of course. What happened?"_

Brittany gave a nod and began to write before turning the white board back towards the Latina, "_Well, I was leaving work just a little after you when I noticed all of these paper airplanes lying outside my building. There had to be at least fifty of them. I mean, they were EVERYWHERE."_

Santana froze, '_How in the world did I miss that? I know I was in a blissful daze of happiness when I left yesterday, but how could I not notice all those damn paper airplanes? It's not like they were going to disappear on their own or something.'_

After taking a minute to refocus, she gave Brittany the go ahead to write out the next part of the story. "_That wasn't even the craziest part. After standing there for a minute, one of them flew right in front of me. I kinda tried to kick it away, but it kept fluttering right back onto my foot. After a few minutes, I finally decided to pick it up and that's when I saw that it had a lip print on it. Isn't that weird?"_

'_Oh, shit. This couldn't possibly get any worse,' Santana thought as she took a bite of her burrito._

That's when the blonde quickly turned the board around to write another message, "_I still have it! Wanna see?"_

Santana just about choked, '_OH MY GOD!'_

* * *

_Author's Note:_

___In case anyone was wondering, the white board usage and a couple other ideas that will be included in this story were inspired by the short film "Signs" by Patrick Hughes, and it can be found on YouTube if you are interested in watching it._

_I also just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed my story. I hope that this next chapter didn't disappoint. Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. See you next time!_


	3. Rules

The following weeks maintained the same basic pattern. The first one to make it to work would keep an eye out for the arrival of the other so that they were met with an immediate greeting, messages would be exchanged periodically throughout the day, and neither left without some form of good-bye.

In that time, Santana had officially come to the conclusion that Brittany S. Pierce was absolutely perfect.

The woman had completely captivated her. She was bright, funny, and above all, unique. She had honestly never met anyone else quite like the blonde. The girl also had her own quirky brand of humor that Santana found particularly endearing.

Somewhere over the course of their conversations, the pair had started playing a never ending game tic-tac-toe, which always resided in the bottom right hand corner of their white boards and would usually be accompanied with some sort of message to carry on the conversation. Brittany almost always won, unsurprisingly. Victory came even easier after discovering Santana's greatest weakness: the blond, herself.

Every time Santana was on the verge of winning, Brittany would do something to cause her to lose focus. The easiest method was just simply staring at the brunette. Santana would look up from her dry erase board in thought as she contemplated her next move. That's when her brown eyes would lock on baby blues, and she would officially be a goner.

"_So, what's the score now?"_ Brittany had written down before gesturing towards two rows of tally marks located just above the game of tic-tac-toe she had just won. As usual, Brittany didn't wait for a response before she was back to writing, "_Oh, that's right. 38-4. Seriously, San, are you even trying?"_

The Latina playfully rolled her eyes before she sent back, "_Hey, it's not my fault that my cousin gave me a noogie every time I won as a child, and now I have this weird mental thing that makes me involuntarily lose on purpose because of it. My brain is convinced that you are going to come all the way over here to give me one if I let myself win."_

Brittany scoffed, "_If you let yourself win? Oh, please. I think you are just full of bull and are now trying to bullshit your way out of the mess you got yourself in. Not gonna work on me this time, Sweet Cheeks."_

Santana placed her hand over her heart, feigning shock, before replying, "_Why, Ms. Pierce! Who knew you had such a dirty mouth? Oh and by the way, I am NOT the one who got us in this mess."_

"_Us? Pretty sure you're the only one in this so called 'mess,' Sanny Fanny. Oh, and weren't YOU the one who challenged ME in the first place."_

"_Details."_

"_Pierce: 39. Lopez: 4."_

Santana felt her eyes bug out, "_Hey! It doesn't work like that."_

"_Gee, that's funny. I don't remember that from when we were making up the rules… Oh, yeah. That's because we never did," _she sent the brunette with a challenging smirk.

"_Whatever, Britt-Britt. You're going down this time, so get ready to have your ass handed to you."_

Santana thoroughly enjoyed the passive aggressiveness behind their comments because it never seemed to go too far. It always had this magical way of maintaining a playful atmosphere. She assumed that this mostly the blonde's doing, considering the brunette's reputation for not being much of a people person, but Brittany was different. Santana couldn't ever imagine being mad at the girl. She was just _too_ good.

As the girls got started on their next game, Brittany asked the question that had been eating at her all morning, "_Hey, I know this might be weird, but would you maybe like to go grab lunch somewhere today? I'm starving, and I forgot to pack a lunch."_

Santana gave a quick nod, "_That sounds like a great idea. What time is your lunch break?"_

"_My schedule is pretty flexible so whenever you take yours is fine with me," she enthusiastically wrote back as the smile on her face grew._

Santana glanced as her desk clock and saw that it was a quarter past eleven, "_Okay, does 12:30 work for you?"_

"_Sounds perfect."_

"Perfect."

* * *

Santana honestly had no idea why they hadn't met face-to-face yet. She assumed that it because they were both too nervous and didn't want to risk ruining the friendship they had built over the past month, but she couldn't imagine why she ever let anything stop her now that the blonde was standing right in front of her.

"Hey, San," Brittany said after she had come bounding up to the Latina.

"Hey, Britt-Britt," she said, smiling at how excited the blonde looked. "What exactly did you have in mind for lunch?"

"Well, there's this Baja taco place up the street that I love to go to. It's pretty cheap, and their food is _amazing_," she suggested, drawing out the last word to add emphasis.

Santana quickly gave a nod in agreement as she stepped aside and motioned for the blonde to lead the way.

It wasn't long before they were both seated around a small table fit for two people. The place wasn't too busy, which was good considering that they each had their meals sitting in front of them within ten minutes of their arrival.

The girls made small talk for a little while until Brittany brought up the topic Santana had been hoping to avoid, "Hey, do you remember how I told you about all those paper airplanes a few weeks ago?"

Santana discretely rolled her eyes, '_How could I forget?' _It wasn't that she was annoyed that Brittany wanted to talk about it. Far from, actually. She just didn't know how to tell the blonde that it was all her doing and that the other woman was the reason behind it all. Shaking her head lightly to clear her thoughts, she responded, "Of course I do, Britt. Why do you bring it up?"

"Well, I think I figured out where they all came from."

"WHAT?!" Santana yelled out before she could stop herself. When she realized that the blonde was staring at her with wide eyes, she tried again, "Uh, I mean… What do you think happened?"

"Well," she began, dropping her eyes from the Latina's before continuing, "I think… I think that…"

'_Oh, no. It's over. I'm done for.'_

The blonde heaved out a sigh, "I think a unicorn made all those paper airplanes."

'_Wait, what?' _Santana thought as she looked over to where Brittany sat, fiddling with her napkin with a dejected look on her face. Needing to hear the rest of the girl's explanation, she prompted Brittany by asking, "A unicorn?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds dumb, but that's the only explanation I could think of for why the airplane kept coming back to me and landing on my foot," the blonde said without meeting the brown eyes that were directed at her. Brittany suddenly tossed her napkin back down on the table, "You know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything."

The look on Brittany's face was killing Santana, "No, no. Come on. I'm listening."

"It's stupid."

Santana was quick to sit forward a bit so that she could place her hand on top of the girl's knee before giving it a few little pats, "Britt." She was met with silence, which caused her to give her friend's knee a firm squeeze, "Brittany, look at me." The blonde eyes quickly flitted up to meet deep brown, and the Latina stared right back, making sure that Brittany fully understood her next words, "It is not stupid and neither are you. Now, what were you going to say?"

"Well," Brittany drug out, as if she was still having second thoughts about resuming the story. Santana gave her a slight, reassuring nod, telling her to keep going, "I think that there was this unicorn that had fallen in love with a narwhal, but the unicorn knew that they could never be together because of the feud that has gone on between their two mammalian families for centuries. You know, kind of like Antony and Cleopatra."

'_Pretty sure she means Romeo and Juliet, but close enough,' _the Latina thought before giving a nod in understanding.

The blonde quickly returned the nod and continued, "The unicorn still wanted to convey its feelings, though, so it started sending out paper airplanes that would float out of clouds and down to the ocean where the narwhal lived. Unfortunately, none of the paper airplanes were able to make it all the way to the ocean. In a final attempt, the unicorn kissed the last paper airplane it had and threw it as hard as it could. The unicorn was still not strong enough though because it still ended up in front of my building instead of the ocean, but you remember how I said the plane wouldn't stop jumping back onto my foot?"

"Yeah."

"Well since the unicorn had kissed the last paper airplane, it put some of its magic into it. I think it wants me to relay the unicorn's message to the narwhal." When she didn't immediately receive any kind of reaction from the Latina, she was quick to assume the worse, "You don't believe me, do you?"

Feeling as if she needed to confess to everything, Santana said, "It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that-"

Unfortunately, or fortunately, for Santana, their waiter chose that exact moment to bring them their checks, effectively distracting both girls from their conversation. Both girls quickly thanked him for his service and checked to see how much their meals cost.

Brittany quickly looked up and watched Santana pull out her wallet, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm paying for my food."

"But I unexpectedly asked you to lunch, so I should be the one to pay for your meal."

"Well, I don't remember making up that rule before we left the office," the girl said before leaning forward slightly with a knowing grin, "Oh, yeah. That's because we never did." Brittany rolled her eyes in realization of Santana mirroring her earlier words, and the Latina couldn't help but laugh as she sent the girl a quick wink and handed the bill holder back to the waiter.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Some of you might be wondering about the story Brittany told. Aside from her love of unicorns, I semi-adapted the idea from this sketch cartoon I saw on YouTube a long time ago called "Unicorn vs. Narwhal." It's up on YouTube, but they've removed the audio. Anyways, that's kind of where the fusion of the ideas came from. __I also wanted to let you all know that I am about to start my next round of exams for college, so it might not be until the end of next week that I can get Chapter 4 posted. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all have a fantastic day!_


	4. 20 Questions

Santana had always considered 20 Questions to be a boring, overused method to get to know someone. That is, until Brittany had asked her to play. At first, she had attempted to put up some resistance, but it was to no avail. All the blonde had to do was jut out her lower lip in a little pout, an effective trick she had recently discovered, and the Latina couldn't bring herself to say no. As per usual.

In hindsight, Santana realized she had no reason to doubt Brittany's innate ability to make everything interesting, especially since the blonde had never let her down before.

They had already discussed how twenty questions would not be enough for them to ask everything that they wanted to know, so the first little twist Brittany added was that they would alternate days where one person gets to choose all twenty questions for that particular day. The arrangement also gave each girl plenty of time to hopefully come up with interesting topics to discuss.

They were also required to answer each and every question. If one of them refused to answer, they would have to treat the other to lunch. Brittany had created the rule after the Latina had tried to weasel her way out of a few questions in the beginning, figuring that it would motivate both of them to keep the game going.

After four days of playing, they had worked through most of the basic 'getting to know you' questions, and now, Brittany was on her last five questions for the day.

The blonde quickly flipped the dry erase board around, "_16. High school mascot."_

"_Titans,"_ Santana answered as she waited for Brittany's answer.

"_Shamrocks."_

Santana busted out laughing as she quickly jotted down, "_Are you joking? What kind of lame mascot is that?"_

Brittany placed her hand on her chest with a look that feigned offense, "_Hey! They're actually pretty terrifying. You definitely didn't want to get on Shamie the Shamrock's bad side if you knew what was good for you. There was this one time when I saw him make a four year old cry. I swear I had nightmares for the remainder of my primary school career about how he was going to steal all my good luck or something."_

The brunette couldn't help but smile, "_Well, I'm pretty sure four-leaf clovers are the ones that deal with all the luck stuff, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. How old were you when that happened?"_

"_16, but I still have the nightmares sometimes."_

Santana felt her heart warm at the girl's honesty, but guilt quickly took over after remembering that she was still not being upfront with the blonde about the whole paper airplane thing. It had been almost two weeks since Brittany had shared her theory with the brunette, and she was still trying to work out the best way of telling her. Summing it up as a work in progress, she put her focus back on the game, "_Okay, I won't dwell on the topic of Shamie Shamrock anymore then. Next question."_

"_17. Worst fear. "_

Santana left out a huff. "_Okay, it's kind of dumb, but I have a valid excuse so you can't judge me,"_ she warned. Once the blonde had given her the go ahead, she continued, "_I am afraid of roller coasters. When I was eight, I got stuck upside down on a ride at some cheap ass amusement park for about half an hour, and I haven't set foot near one since."_

"_Hm, we might just have to change that then,"_ the blonde said, assuming that Santana would know she was joking. It wasn't until she had noticed the woman in the office across from her visibly pale that she realized she hadn't made her joke apparent enough, "_Calm down, San. I'm just kidding. If it makes you feel any better, mine is the dark. You would think I'd have outgrown it by now, but nope, it still absolutely terrifies me. One night back when I still lived at home, Lord Tubbington came running (Well, jogging… Actually, it was more like a really quick walk.) after me once while I was sprinting from the bathroom back to my room. I thought I was going to die."_

That was enough to elicit a laugh from the brunette. She had already heard all about Lord Tubbington, Brittany's apparently overweight cat, a few days before when Brittany had asked a question about pets. While talking about him, she had mentioned a range of topics that were typically not brought up when talking about a cat, including gangs, drug abuse, rehab, and a feline lap band surgery that had been successful until Lord Tubbington refused to change his diet. Needless to say, she already had a colorful idea of what the cat was like in her head, which grew even more bizarre with each new story Brittany told.

"_18. Favorite animal."_

Santana knew her answer instantly, "_Penguins, without a doubt. Have you ever seen that video of the little baby one at that zoo. I swear I have a mini-heart attack every time I get to the part where he starts spazzing out around that worker's hand. Too cute."_

"_Oh, wow! That totally supports my theory that heart attacks are just from loving too much!"_ she replied excitedly.

Santana just stopped for a moment and smiled at how adorable the blonde was being, "_Yeah, Britt-Britt, I guess so. So, what about you? What's your favorite animal?" _

"_Well… If you're a bird, I'm a bird."_ Wink.

'…_and now she's back,' _Santana thought with a laugh before giving the blonde an incredulous look, _"Are you seriously referencing _The Notebook_ right now?"_

"_Santana, what kind of girl do you take me for?"_ she questioned with a shocked expression before switching to playful smirk, "_Of course I'm quoting _The Notebook_!"_

The brunette rolled her eyes, "_Okay, You. Now really, what's your favorite animal?"_

"_Actually, I was mostly telling the truth. Ducks are my favorite,"_ she said, moving on to the next topic, "_19. Dream job when you were younger. (Because no little kid I have ever met has dreamed of being an accountant when they grow up.)"_

_"Hey! Don't take jabs at my career,"_ the brunette jokingly chastised, _"but actually, you're right. I wanted to be singer or a record producer, anything in the music business really, but my parents refused. They wanted me to follow in their footsteps and be a lawyer or a surgeon like them, but I have always been a lot better with numbers so here I am. What about yourself?"_

"_Dancer, but I had to stop due to a knee injury in college."_

"_Aw, Britt. I'm so sorry."_

"_No, it's fine really. I'll admit that I was really upset at first because I thought I'd be doing it forever, but I'm not one to let obstacles keep me from living. I gave myself the time I needed to get myself together, went to physical therapy to get my knee as good as it would get, and moved on with my life. I have been lucky enough to still be able to dance recreationally, which is more than I expected so I'm grateful."_

'_Yep, she is definitely the most humble, good-hearted person in the world,'_ Santana thought as she wrote down her next message, "_Well, then so am I."_ They shared a smile, and she turned the dry erase board back toward herself to write another message, "_Alright, Britt-Britt! This is the last question of the day, so make it count."_

Suddenly, a knowing grin spread across the blonde's face. She looked down and began writing. When she was done, she turned her gaze back to the brunette and turned the board around, "_20. Phone number."_

Santana was completely dumbfounded as her eyes snap to Brittany's, giving her a look that asked if she was serious. The blonde, of course, kept her cool as she gave a nod with a confident smile. That was enough to help Santana develop a confident smile of her own because by the end of the day, she knew she would have Brittany S. Pierce's number.

* * *

The exchanging of numbers hadn't changed the pair's work routine all that much thanks to one major ground rule. They decided that there would only be texting outside of work. As soon as they clocked in, using their phone as a means of contacting the other woman was completely prohibited.

The plan was a success until they hit one little bump in the road.

Santana had come into work the following Monday after their big number swap to find no sign of her favorite blonde. In fact, she was met with an older man with dark, bushy hair and eyebrows who was currently setting up pictures and other miscellaneous objects on a bookcase that had been cleared of all Brittany's things.

Worried that something had happened to the blonde, she dashed to her phone. Upon unlocking it, she found no new messages or calls. The accountant's mind began to race with a million different thoughts on what could have happened to the other woman, '_I mean, she would have told me, right? Brittany is not the type of person to not tell someone if she quit or was moving or something like that. What if something serious happened her? What if… What if…?'_

The Latina's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a soft thump on her window, with another following shortly after. Walking over to the large window, Santana began looking around. She was almost ready to give up when she spotted a small yellow object hit the window right in front of her face.

Looking up to see where the object had come from, she spotted Brittany standing in an office that was a story above the brunette with a box of DOTS and a broad smile, giving her a slightly distorted wave since she was holding a few pieces of candy.

Santana figured that the blonde must not have had her whiteboard near her because she held up a finger, asking the brunette to give her a second before popping a DOT into her mouth and turning to walk out of Santana's view.

When she returned, her hands were free of candy and now holding a dry erase board that already had a message written out, "Good morning, San!"

'_Good morning, San? Really? I'm sitting here wondering if you were lying in a hospital somewhere, and all you have to say is good morning?'_ Santana thought as she turned to grab her own whiteboard. She wasn't mad, however. In fact, she was more relieved than anything.

When she returned, she also had a message prepared, "_Brittany, what are you doing up there? Oh, and why is Mr. Bushy-Eyed-McBusherton in your office?"_

The blonde gave her a confused look, "_Who? You mean Greg?"_

"_Okay, yeah sure. So, why is Greg the Bushy-Eyed-McBusherton redecorating your office while you're up there tossing DOTS at my window?"_

"_Oh, I walked into the office this morning to find out that I had been promoted! Isn't that exciting?"_ The blonde questioned with an eager grin.

The Latina let out a little sigh, allowing herself relax a little more. It was obvious that the other woman hadn't realized her previous apprehensions, "_Why didn't you let me know? You know you have my number now, right?"_

"_Yeah but like I said, I was already at work this morning when they told me. I didn't want to break our 'no texting in the workplace' rule. Lucky for you, I like you enough to waste perfectly good DOTS in order to get your attention or else you probably would have never looked up."_

"_I understand, but that was meant for us to be able to keep the whiteboard thing going. You can break the rule if it's something like this,"_ she showed the girl before quickly turning it back towards herself, adding, "_And no, I'm not just saying that to trick you into a free lunch."_

The blonde gave a little laugh, "_I know. I just thought throwing DOTS at your window would be a little more fun."_

"_Well, it's certainly a more interesting method. So, do you have any plans to go out and celebrate tonight?"_

"_Nah, not really. I mean, it's not that big of a deal,"_ she said, but the Latina knew that she was just being modest.

"_Aw, come on. You just got promoted! How about we go out after work, find somewhere with a really good happy hour, and have a few drinks?"_

Brittany gave the other woman a grin, "_Well, I can't say that I disagree with your logic."_

"_Duh, of course you can't! So, what time do you get off today?"_

"_5:30."_

"_Great! I get off at 5 so I'll just lollygag around here until you get off, and then we can go," _the Latina responded before watching Brittany bust out laughing. She quickly erased her last message, replacing it with, "_What? What did I say?"_

Brittany quickly replied, "_Nothing, San. I just never pictured you using the word 'lollygag' before. It was cute."_

Santana gave the girl an exaggerate eye-roll while trying to conceal her blush, '_Okay, well I'm going to get back to work now, so I'll see you at 5:30, alright?"_

"_Sounds good to me, Sanny. See you in a bit."_

* * *

Santana had been playing solitaire on her computer for the past fifteen minutes. Looking over at the clock, she decided that she should probably start heading down to meet Brittany.

She ended up only having to wait for a couple of minutes in front of the other woman's building before her distracted gaze glanced up to focus on a set of familiar blue eyes. She gave a small wave to the blonde, "Hey, are you ready to head out?"

"Yep, and I believe it's your turn to lead the way," Brittany said as she walked up to the brunette.

Santana gave a brief nod and then tilted her head to the side, motioning towards the direction they would be heading in. A little while later, they found themselves standing outside the restaurant the Latina had in mind. Reaching out to hold open the door for the blonde, she said, "This place has the best 'ritas in town, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

Chucking, Brittany replied, "Alright, I guess I'll just have to trust your judgement."

They ended up only ordering drinks since it was still a little early for dinner. The conversation flowed effortlessly, not that it had ever been a problem for either of them. About an hour later, their waiter handed them the ticket. Santana went to pay for both her and Brittany's drinks, but the bloned quickly swatted her hand away and took out her own money.

"Are you serious? We have that rule where the person who requests we go out for lunch pays for the meal. How is this any different?"

"Well, now we're out for _drinks,_" Brittany emphasized with a grin.

"Oh, so now we're going to have to make a rule new for anytime I want to pay for your meal?" Realizing what she might have just insinuated, the Latina rushed to think of a quick cover up, "Uh, I mean… You know… For like your birthday or something."

The blonde seemed unphased as she gave a quick nod, "Yep, I guess so."

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_I know that I am getting this up a lot sooner than I thought I would, but I honestly couldn't stop coming back to add parts to this and future chapters. I have also almost completely written Chapter 5, so I will hopefully have it up by next weekend. Anyways, thank you all again for reading. I hope you all have a great day, and I'll see you all next time!_

_P.S.: This is the YouTube video Santana referenced in Question 18, just in case you haven't seen it: watch?v=3wTWWjYTe1I_


	5. Rain, Rain, Go Away

Much like the day she met Brittany, Santana had woken with an overwhelming sense of what her day was going to be like. Unfortunately, her morning gave off the exact opposite effect of that day. The sky was gloomy, it had been raining off and on since the night before, and she couldn't find her umbrella for the life of her. She had searched for nearly thirty minutes before realizing that she had to leave if she didn't want to be late to work and dolefully admitted her defeat, throwing on a nice (but to her dismay, hoodless) raincoat, instead.

The weather had thankfully managed to hold up until she made it into the firm before it started to pour down upon the city. Not long after her arrival, she was walking over to her desk and setting down her things.

Looking out the large window, the Latina realized that communicating with Brittany via dry erase boards would be near impossible. The rain was coming down harder than ever now, and there were no signs of it stopping anytime soon. Walking back over to her purse, she dug out her phone and sent a text to the blonde.

_To Britt-Britt: Hey, it's raining cats and dogs outside, and I can't see anything that is more than a foot outside my window. Is that reason enough for us to use our cellphones today?_

Putting her phone down on the desktop, she started setting up for the day. While waiting for her computer to boot up, she started clearing off her desk of everything she didn't need and stashed it into one of the desk drawers. She then took to tidying up a few stacks of papers that had been ruffled by her purse and briefcase.

Once she was done, she checked her phone and saw a response from the blonde.

_To San: OMG! It is? I can't see anything with all these raindrops falling everywhere. San, we have to go save them! What if they're all hurt? Should I call an ambulance?!_

_To Britt-Britt: No! No, no, no. Sorry, Britt. It's not really raining cats and dogs. That's just a figure of speech._

_To San: Are you sure? You just said that you couldn't see more than a foot outside your window. What if their falling MORE than a foot outside your window?_

_To Britt-Britt: There's no cats and dogs outside. Well, none that are falling from the sky at least. I promise._

_To San: Okay, if you say so... I was thinking the same thing, by the way. You know, about using our phones today. So, how is your morning going? Get to work alright?_

_To Britt-Britt: Yeah, I couldn't find my umbrella, but I managed to get here before the rain started. I'll just have to pray that there's a break in the weather this afternoon so I can go home._

_To San: I have my umbrella. Do you want me to walk you home if it's still raining?_

_To Britt-Britt: No, there's no sense in doing that. Don't worry, I can just wing it._

_To San: Alright... Just let me know if you change your mind, okay? It honestly wouldn't be a problem. Really._

_To Britt-Britt: Thanks, Britt. I'll let you know if I do._

Placing the phone back down on the desk, Santana started thinking about her response. The brunette knew she wouldn't be changing her mind, but she also didn't want to worry the blonde. In fact, that was the last thing she wanted to do. Taking a deep breath, she slowly let it out and decided to get back to work.

The rest of the day passed with periodic texts being exchanged, but the Latina couldn't help but think that communicating by phone was not near as fun as using their whiteboards. She eventually brushed those thoughts aside, concluding that she was lucky to even have Brittany's number at all. She couldn't imagine how much worse her day would have been if they hadn't exchanged numbers the week before.

Another thing that Santana was thankful for was the fact that the day was passing quickly, and before she knew it, she was packing up to go home. Sending Brittany a quick text to inform her that she was leaving for the day, she donned her rain jacket, picked up her purse and briefcase, and started to head out toward the elevator.

Upon reaching the ground floor, she looked outside and saw that the rain had stopped. The sky even happened to look a little clearer than it had on her way into work.

Quickly deciding that this was as good a chance as ever to start heading back to her apartment, she dashed out the front doors of the large building and briskly made her way to the train station. She managed to get there in record time and had yet to see a drop of water fall from above.

About an hour later, the brunette was making her way back onto the street to walk the final leg of her commute home, which was also the exact moment that the sky decided to open up. It was as if a faucet had been turned on. The Latina thought about making a run for it, but quickly lost interest when the freezing cold of the rain overtook her, rapidly causing her entire body to become numb.

As if matters couldn't get any worse, a taxi quickly drove by, hitting a large puddle and splashing water all over the accountant, successfully soaking the Latina from head to toe. Santana couldn't even find it in her to bring out her normal level of rage as she shot a dirty look at the car and thought, _'Really, Asshole? You couldn't have just switch lanes or something? There was no one even near you._' Heaving a frustrated sigh, she turned back to face the direction she was headed and walked the rest of the way to her destination.

She walked into the small apartment a few minutes later violently shivering. Suddenly feeling overwhelmingly tired and ready to end her day, she decided to take a quick, warm shower and head straight to bed.

* * *

Santana groggily woke up the next morning to another dreary day. Her head was throbbing, and she could barely sum up enough energy to keep her eyes open.

Dragging herself out of bed, she made her way to the medicine cabinet where she kept her thermometer. Shoving the device under her tongue, she waited a few minutes for it to tell her her temperature. As soon as it beeped, she removed it from her mouth and read the results, '_100.8°F. Well, isn't this just freaking great?'_

The Latina shuffled back over to her bedside to grab her phone and called in sick. Once she had the okay from her boss to take the day off, she flipped over the covers and got back in bed, quickly succumbing to sleep once more.

A few hours later, Santana's phone gave a loud beeping noise, informing her that she had received a text. Looking over to her digital clock, she saw that it was only 11:00 AM and gave a miserable groan. Reaching out for her phone, she unlocked it and noticed a new text from Brittany.

_To San: Hey, I haven't seen you in the office today, and I just wanted to check and make sure that everything is okay._

The short message from the blonde was enough to cause her to muster up a small smile.

_To Britt-Britt: Yeah, everything is fine. I'm just running a bit of fever._

_To San: Ugh, I knew I should have walked you home yesterday._

_To Britt-Britt: Hey, this isn't your fault. I'm the one who walked home in the cold rain without an umbrella._

_To San: What's your temperature?_

'_I can't tell her the truth. That would only cause her to freak out and do something irrational,' _the Latina thought to herself. That was when her phone gave another beep, signifying that she had received another message.

_To San: And don't even think about lying to me, Santana Diabla Lopez._

'_Wow, she's acting like my mom.' _Santana rolled her eyes at the thought and moved to grab the thermometer once more. After it had calculated her temperature, she sent a response to Brittany.

_To Britt-Britt: My temperature is 101.1°F, but really, Britt. It's no big deal._

_To San: When was the last time you rechecked it?_

_To Britt-Britt: Less than a minute ago._

_To San: Okay, good. Do you have someone to look after you?_

_To Britt-Britt: No, but I'll be fine. I swear._

_To San: What's your address?_

_To Britt-Britt: What?_

_To San: What's your address? I get off early today, so I'm going to come check on you when I'm done._

_To Britt-Britt: Honestly, B. You really don't have to do that._

_To San: No arguing. Just give me the address._

The Latina's tired eyes widened slightly, _"Okay, I was wrong. She's worse than my mother. WAY worse.'_

After informing the blonde where she lived, she decided to relocate to the living room to wait for the other woman's arrival. About two hours later, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in, Britt. It's open," Santana mumbled as loud as she could muster.

She assumed Brittany must have heard her because the door opened slightly and the blonde's head came popping through the large crack, "San?"

"I'm right here, Britt-Britt. You can come in," Santana said, waving her over from where she was wrapped in a cozy comforter cocoon on the couch.

As soon as she was inside, Brittany shut the door and faced the brunette, "San, why was the door unlocked?"

"I unlocked it when I moved in here earlier so I wouldn't have to force myself back up once you got here," she said, thinking that her friend was upset that she hadn't met her at the door, "Sorry, I would have let you in myself, but I just don't have the energy today to do much of anything."

Brittany maintained her unreadable expression, "What if I wasn't me?"

"What do you mean?" Santana asked in confusion.

"I mean, what if there had been someone else at the door. They could have just walked in, and-"

The Latina decided to go ahead and cut Brittany off before her imagination got the best of her, "I'm sorry, Britt. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. It won't happen again."

"Promise?" the blonde asked, walking the few steps she needed to reach the couch while holding out a pinky.

Santana smiled and locked pinkies with the woman standing slightly over her, "I promise, B."

"Good," Brittany said as she released the girl's finger and stood back up, "So, what have you been up to today?"

"Nothing much, just sleeping and watching TV," Santana said as she pointed over towards the television.

"A cop drama. How predictable."

Santana gave a weak laugh, "Hey, those are practically the only shows that play during the day besides lame cooking programs and the soap operas my abuela used to make me watch as a kid, which I swore off years ago. Never again." That's when Santana noticed a huge cloth sack slung over the girl's shoulder, "What's in the bag?"

"Oh!" the woman exclaimed before placing the bag on the small coffee table in front of Santana. Opening it up a bit, she started pulling out various types of medicine, "I started packing a few of my favorites, but by the time I realized just how many I was packing, I had packed almost my entire medicine cabinet. If you were missing anything here, you shouldn't have to worry because I probably brought it along with me."

Once she got halfway to the bottom of the bag, she pulled out an extra box of tissues and some cough drops and put them next to the box of tissues Santana already had out on the small table. That was when she spotted a mound of tissues lying on the floor beside the brunette, "Hey, do you have a small trashcan somewhere?"

"Yeah, there's one in my office," she said as she lazily pointed towards the doorway located behind her. "Why-?" she started to ask, but the girl was already darting off down the hall. Not even a second later, she was back and started picking up a pile of tissues. "Brittany, stop that. It's gross," Santana murmured.

The blonde rolled her eyes at the woman's reaction, "Oh, get over it, San." Leaving the trashcan beside the Latina, she walked back over to bag and started dig through it as she continued to talk, "By the way, also have a friend who heard you were sick. He wanted to come over and make sure you were okay because he's heard a lot of good things about you and was sorry that you didn't feel too well."

Santana was a little confused, but before she could even ask about it, Brittany turned around with a teddy bear held in her arms, "This is Mr. Bear. He is one of my oldest, most bestests friends, and he is a super awesome cuddler so I hope he makes you feel better."

Taken over by Brittany's cuteness, Santana reached out to take the stuffed bear from the girl's hands. Before she realized what she was doing, she had tucked the bear under the covers and was cuddled up with it held tightly to her chest.

Brittany gave a satisfied smile as she slung her bag over her shoulder, announcing that she would be in the kitchen in case Santana needed something. Not even a minute later, however, the blonde came rushing back into the room and began looking through the pile of medicine she had brought.

"I almost forgot," Brittany said without looking up, "This will make you feel better, okay?" She quickly grabbed the bottle she had been looking for and poured the proper amount of liquid cold medicine into the plastic measuring cup before handing it over to the brunette.

Santana downed the syrup, and her expression quickly transformed into a grimace, "Yuck! I hate that stuff."

"Well, at least it will make you feel better. Now, get some sleep while I make you something to eat, okay?"

Once the drowsy side effects of the medication started to kick in, Santana allowed herself to slip off into a deep sleep.

* * *

A couple of hours later, the blonde came into the room to find a sleeping Santana. Wanting to ease her awake, she quietly walked to her friend's side and leaned over to lightly scratch her shoulder. "Hey, San, the soup is ready if you're hungry." Brittany whispered to the Latina.

After a couple minutes of Brittany's insistent shoulder scratching, Santana slowly started to wake up, muttering quietly about how she felt as if she had been hit by a truck. Dragging her head up across the pillow, she looked up at the girl hunched over above her and blinked a few times. Then, with her eyes half-opened and a goofy grin on her face, she mumbled, "Wow, I th'ght it'd be a lot harder to get into this place."

Brittany's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Heav'n, silly Angel Britty, but ser'sly, c'n you ask the Big Guy if he made a mistake because I'm pretty sure that I haven't finished makin' up for wh't I did in high school yet, an' I pro'bly shouldn't be here right now," the brunette slurred out, still half-asleep.

Brittany chuckled quietly to herself, "I don't exactly know how to tell you this, San, but you're not in Heaven. Not yet, at least."

"I'm not?" she asked in disbelief.

"No, now I'm going to go get you some soup. Can you try to wake up a bit while I'm gone?" Santana gave her a few slight nods, and she continued, "Okay, good girl. I'll be right back." Brittany turned around to walk away, but quickly looked back to the girl, "Oh, and it'd probably be best that we lay off the meds for the while. At least, the ones that make you sleepy."

The half-asleep Latina gave another lazy nod and started to push herself up while Brittany returned to the kitchen. She didn't get very far, however, because she soon found her face back in the pillow and was drifting back into her own little dream world.

She was suddenly brought out of her semi-sleep state when she heard Brittany's laugh coming from across the room. Cracking her eyes open a little, she noticed the blonde standing there with a bowl of soup in her hand, "I leave for one minute, and you're already going back to sleep."

"S'rry."

"Nah, it's okay, San. I know you're tired. Did you want to wait for the soup?"

"No, no. You already made it, so I should eat it while it's warm. What kind is it, anyways?"

"It's my grandmother's special Homemade Vegetable Soup. She used to always make it for me whenever I was sick, and it always made me feel a lot better, but results may vary, so don't get your hopes up," the blonde said as she handed the bowl over to the Latina.

Santana snapped her eyes up to the blonde, "Wait, so you made this from scratch?"

"Of course. I didn't say it was homemade for nothing," Brittany said with a genuine smile.

"Britt, this is too much. Honestly-"

Brittany quickly cut her off, "Honestly, it's just enough. Now, eat up."

The brunette took the spoon in her hand, but before she brought it up to her mouth, she looked back at the blonde, "Hey, Britt?"

"Yeah, San?"

"Did you really get off work early today?"

The blonde's small smile changed into a knowing smirk as she started to shake her head, responding, "No, but I was almost done with my work anyways so I just told my boss that I had a personal emergency."

"Brittany!" the Latina chastised, but the other woman stopped her before she could say anything farther.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with playing a little hookie, especially if it means I get to take care of someone as adorably sick as you," Brittany said as she bopped her on the nose. She then added, "Plus, who's going to distract me from doing my job if you aren't back at work tomorrow?"

Santana sent her friend a playful eye-roll before blowing on a spoonful of soup and shoveling it into her mouth. The vegetable soup was arguably the most delicious thing she had ever tasted, and she quickly went to eat some more, thinking to herself, '_Yep, life is good.'_

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Okay, so I just have to say that I was really, really excited to write this chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. __I know I say this a lot, but I mostly likely will not have another chapter out before the weekend because of my three exams this week. I might try for Friday, but I can't promise anything, unfortunately._

___Anyways, I hope you all have a nice week. See you next time!_


	6. Party Hardy

The women had chosen a local sandwich shop to grab lunch the Monday following Santana's return to work. Once finished eating, the pair decided to spend the rest of their break answering Santana's twenty questions for the day while playing their favorite game involving a hash mark.

"Okay, number six. Um," Santana drug out as she looked up from the pair's ninth game of tic-tac-toe in contemplation. "Oh, I know. So, you already heard about how I became an accountant, but I was wondering, how did you get into the advertising biz?"

Brittany went to make her next move as she began, "Ah, well, after my plans of having a dance career went south, I spent a majority of my time sitting around and asking myself, 'What am I supposed to do now?' I mean, all I had ever known was dance. I was never very good at academics, but I knew the dance world like the back of my hand and was good at thinking outside the box and being creative. Then, one day I was looking through a dance magazine, and it hit me. I could make ads for dance companies and equipment, along with a bunch of other products and businesses. I swear it felt like my entire world had opened up."

The brunette gave her friend a warm smile, "Aw, that's amazing, Britt-Britt."

Brittany gave a nod in agreement, "Yeah, so I decided to go back to school, studied my butt off, worked my way up the ranks, and now I am here, having lunch with you."

Santana almost snorted as she let out a round of laughter, "I don't think you want to include me in the story of your rise to success."

"Oh, but I think I do," the blonde said with a smirk. Just as a deep blush started to appear on the shocked Latina's face, Brittany added, "Oh, and in case you didn't notice, you lost again."

That was enough to distract Santana from the previous comment as her eyes darted down at the page holding their game, "Damn it! Not again."

"Hey, just look on the bright side," Brittany said after noticing Santana was in a slight huff, "At least you've actually won one today."

"Yeah, not helping, Britt," Santana said with a laugh.

"Sorry. By the way, can I ask you something?"

"Other than the question you just asked?" Santana retorted, earning herself a pointed look from the blonde, "Okay, okay. Sorry, Britt. Yes, of course you can ask me a question. What's up?"

"Well, you see," Brittany started nervously. The blonde took a quick uneasy breath, "My boss may or may not have spotted us using our whiteboards the other day."

"Wait, hold up," Santana blurted out, effectively stopping the blonde, "Your boss saw us?" Her eyes suddenly widened, "Oh my God! Did you get fired? Britt, I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Fired? No, San. Why would I even be at work today if I had been fired?" the blonde asked before noticing the Latina relax.

Santana quickly threw her hand over her heart and leaned back in her seat, "Oh, thank God. Why did you make me think that you lost your job? Damn near gave me a heart attack."

"I didn't make you think anything, Drama Queen. That was all your imagination's doing," Brittany responded with a laugh.

"Fine, then why are you acting so weird while talking about your boss then?"

"Well after he saw us talking, he wanted to know why I was communicating with some random girl in the building across the street from ours, so he started asking me about who you were and stuff."

Feeling that Brittany needed some help to continue after she had stopped talking for a couple of seconds, Santana prompted, "And?"

Brittany took a another deep breath, "Well, I told him about the past several months, and he apparently liked the story so much that he insisted on me inviting you to the office party we're having on Friday so he could meet you." Watching the Latina's eyes widen once more, she rushed to provide the other woman with more of an explanation, "It's nothing big. My boss has practically been looking for a reason to have alcoholic beverages in the workplace, after hours of course, for months now, and his 62-year-old secretary getting engaged provided him with the perfect excuse." Sensing the brunette was still a little uneasy, Brittany added, "You don't have to go if you don't want to, of course, but it'll be fun. I promise. I work with really cool people, and there will be free food and booze. What more could you possibly ask for?"

"Well, when you put it like that," Santana joked in an attempt to calm herself back down, "But yeah, sure. I'll go. It's not like I could ever tell you no or anything." She meant for the last comment to come off as another joke, but her voice betrayed her by carrying an air of truth that she knew was there but didn't want the blonde to know about. Not just yet, at least.

Brittany seemed just as unphased by Santana's slip up as usual as she replied, "Awesome, I'll let him know that you'll be there, then. I don't have all the details yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I do."

"Sounds good to me."

"Good. So, are you ready to head back to work? You know, since I still have a job and all," the blonde said with a smirk.

The Latina gave her a playful eye-roll, "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, we wouldn't want you to get fired or anything."

"Alright, let's head out then before I'm late," the blonde said as the pair started to gather their things and stood to leave.

* * *

The rest of the week passed quickly, and before Santana knew it, she was leaving work on Friday afternoon and making her way over to the lobby of Brittany's building. She didn't really know what she was supposed to do exactly since the only thing Brittany had told her was to send a text once she had clocked out, but she assumed that the blonde was just going to meet her down there. Hopefully.

Walking through the front doors, she took a look around the spacious room. Though the women had known one another for a little over three and a half months now, they had never actually ventured into the other's building. This was definitely new territory for the Latina, which was already causing her to freak out a bit.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't be treating something like this as a big deal, and her being conscious of that fact was really putting a strain on the girl's nerves. It had been such a long time since she had even been interested in anyone, so the fact that she was meeting people who were close to Brittany, the girl who she had already potentially fallen for, was causing her to panic a little.

The thought of her embarrassing herself or causing a bad first-impression had just crossed her mind for the thousandth time when she spotted Brittany heading towards her. She didn't know whether it was the girl's small smile or the brightness in her eyes, but as soon as she saw the blonde, all of her worries and doubt seemed to fall away.

"Hey, San," Brittany said as she wrapped the brunette in a tight embrace. After a moment, she pulled back and held Santana at arm's length, "You okay? You looked like you were freaking out."

Santana felt a genuine smile tug at her lips, "Yeah, I'm okay now. You ready to go get this party started?"

"But of course!" the ad executive exclaimed as she dropped one of her hands to the Latina's and proceeded to drag her friend behind her as she turned to make her way back towards the elevator.

As soon as they had reached the appropriate floor, Brittany led Santana into a room full of people decorating the large office space. Santana was just starting to take in her surroundings when she noticed a man on a ladder quickly turn to see who had come out of the elevator.

Upon spotting the two girls, he quickly put down the roll of streamers he had been holding and climbed down the steps of the ladder to make is way over to the women, "Ah, hello! You must be Santana. I've heard a lot about you from this one here," he said, pointing over to the blonde, "I'm Brittany's boss, Chris. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The Latina met the man's outstretched hand, returning with, "Same to you, Chris. I hope you weren't too upset about our conversing during business hours. If so, don't take it out on her. I'm the one who started it."

Chris threw his head back in laughter at the brunette's seriousness and looked over to Brittany, "Oh, I knew I would like her. You were right. She's a hoot!" He then shifted his eyes back to Santana, "Seriously, it's not a problem. Brittany is good at what she does, and she always gets her assignments turned in on time so there is absolutely no problem with the two of you talking while at work. Well, from my end anyways. I'm not so sure what your boss would have to say on the matter."

The Latina gave a small chuckle, "Yeah, I don't think he has caught us yet, but he's pretty chill, so I wouldn't expect him to mind too much."

"Good, good. To be honest, I'm surprised I didn't realize something was up sooner. Brittany used to always be walking around and chit-chatting with everyone, and then one day, she suddenly stopped. I should have known that she was simply spending her time talking to someone outside the office," Chris then sent Brittany a knowing look.

Trying to find out what it meant, Santana shifted her gaze over to the blonde next to her and noticed what looked to be a light blush spreading across the blonde's face. Brittany, however, refused to look away from her boss as she spoke, "Chris, I think there are some streamers over there calling your name."

Her boss gave a little jump, as if he had just remember something, "Oh, yeah! I better get back to that. Again, it was nice to meet you, Santana. You're always welcome to drop in and say hello. Maybe before you and Britt here go out on one of your lunch dates."

Santana felt Brittany stiffen beside her before the blonde firmly told her boss, "Chris. Streamers. Now."

The man put his hands up in defense, "Alright, alright. I'm leaving. Anyways, Santana, just think about it."

"Okay, thanks. I'll keep that in mind," she responded before the man turned to make his way back towards the ladder.

As soon as he was gone, Brittany looked down towards the brunette, seeming quick to change the subject, "Hey, I want to introduce you to the Couple of Honor. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, Britt-Britt. Lead the way."

The ad executive lead her friend over to an older woman who was speaking to a group of Brittany's co-workers. After Brittany had lightly placed her hand on the woman's shoulder, the lady turned around to see who it was, "Oh! Hello, Brittany. Did you fetch your friend?"

"Yeah, Patty," the blonde said, motioning towards the girl at her side, "This is Santana. Santana, this is Patricia, Chris' secretary."

"Hello, Patricia. Brittany told me about your engagement. Congratulations."

"You can just call me, Patty, Dear. Everyone else does. Oh, and thank you so much. I definitely never thought I'd be getting the chance to do all this again after losing my late husband, but I must say that I am rather excited about the whole thing, even if my fiancé is a senile old man." Just then, an older gentleman came up behind her and gently placed his arm around her waist. Looking over to the man, she added, "Well, speak of the Devil."

"I thought I heard someone talking about me. What are you lovely ladies discussing over here?" he asked before reaching out a large hand toward the brunette, "Hello, I don't think we have met yet. My name is Gerald, but you can just call me Gerry. Do you work here, as well?"

"No, I actually work in the building across the street, but I'm a friend of Brittany's. She invited me to join in the festivities tonight. I hope I'm not imposing or anything."

Patricia was quick to speak up, "Of course not, Sweetie. You are more than welcome to join us. Brittany here is such a sweetheart and an excellent judge of character, so any friend of hers is a friend of ours."

"Well, thank you. You two make a beautiful couple, by the way," Santana said, feeling as if she should say something more.

"Yeah, I guess she'll do," Gerry said as he bumped hips with his fiancé. Patty gave him a challenging look. "Oh, don't give me that. You know I was joking," he said as he chuckled loudly before looking over to Brittany and Santana, "You two have no idea how hard this woman made me work to even get a simple date with her."

Noticing the younger girls' intrigue, Patricia decided to further explain their story, "We met about five years after my husband had passed away. By that time, I was ready to start trying to move on and see if there would be someone who could make me as happy as Alfred had during our time together. That's when I met Gerry. We clicked almost instantly, but I was still a little guarded at first so there wasn't any real progress in the beginning."

"Yeah, I'd say!" Gerald interjected, "It took three years before I was even be allowed to take you out a date."

"Oh, hush! It wasn't that long, you crazy old coot," the older woman said with a laugh and a light slap on his arm.

"Would you like to bet? How about we pull out a calendar and find out just which one of us is the senile one, huh?" Gerald challenged.

"Fine, loser has to cook the other dinner every night for a week," the elderly woman said as she quickly walked over to her desk to pull out a calendar from her desk drawer.

"Well, it's a good thing I love your delicious home cooking, then," Gerry called after her before turning back to the two younger girls and dropped his voice to just above a whisper, "To be completely honest, girls, it was all worth it. Sure, she made it harder on me than was probably necessary, but I got the girl in the end so it all worked out. That's what really matters, right?" Not waiting for an answer, he sent them a small wink before walking away to see whether or not he had won their bet.

Santana and Brittany turned to one another and shared a couple of laughs before Brittany suggested that she introduce Santana to the rest of her coworkers, which the Latina quickly agreed to.

* * *

The rest of the night was spent with everyone in the office laughing and having fun. Santana had already noted on several occasions how right Brittany had been when she had spoken highly about her co-workers. She had almost immediately fit in amongst the group, which she found to be rather comforting.

Unfortunately, the accountant eventually began to grow tired as the night went on. Tapping Brittany's shoulder to get her attention, she announced, "Hey, I think I'm going to head out. It's been a really long day."

"Oh, alright. Just let me go get my stuff and we can go," the blonde responded.

"Britt, you don't have to leave. Seriously," Santana tried to reason.

"Do you honestly expect me to let you walk home alone at this time of night?" Brittany asked before answering her own question, "Heck no. Plus, in case you've forgotten, we get off at the same stop. It would make way more sense to make sure we both got back home alright, right?"

Seeing sense in her friend's words, Santana quickly agreed and waited for Brittany to get return with all of her things before the pair said they're good-bye's and headed out of the building to make their way home.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Okay, can I just say that this wasn't supposed to be its own chapter? Seriously._

_Oh and not only that, but it is the second longest chapter I have written so far, which I definitely wasn't expecting._

_Anyways, thank you so much for reading. I'm sorry that I couldn't get this out sooner, but like I said, I didn't expect this to be as long as it turned out to be. _

_I hope you all have a great day, and I should be back with Chapter 7 sometime within the next few days._

_Until next time, bye!_


	7. You Got It Bad

The walk to the train station was filled with a comfortable silence. At least, it was as comfortable as it could possibly be with the millions of thoughts running through Santana's head. It was as if every step they took away from the distractions of the party caused her thoughts to shift more towards the blonde walking next to her.

She was also hyperaware of Brittany's presence beside her. Every time their shoulders bumped or their hands grazed, her heart would give a reaction that was somewhere between jumping out of her chest and stopping completely.

Thankfully, they had timed their exit from the party at just the right time to be able to board their train as soon as they had reached the platform. The number of passengers inside the car was fairly sparse, with a few people sitting here and there. Santana quickly gestured towards a couple of seats with no one around them and looked to Brittany for a sign of agreement. After receiving the go-ahead, she led the blonde over so that they could sit and wait for the trait to leave the station.

Once seated, Santana couldn't help but notice how close they were to one another with their upper arms pressed firmly together. The brunette's heart palpitations returned with full force at this realization, and she began doing anything in her power to distract herself from her own self-awareness. Unfortunately, that led to start thinking about the newly engaged couple she had met that evening.

Santana had never been one for being in a relationship, not that she didn't want to. It's just that there was always so much going on in her life, and she hardly had time to go out and meet people, let alone potential love-interests.

After moving off to college, the Latina had decided to trade in her HBIC attitude for a textbook and studied her way through the next several years. By the time it came to graduate and enter the real world, she was thoroughly out of practice as far as dating was concerned, and despite getting where she wanted to be in life, she couldn't help but wonder if she would ever get a chance to find someone to share her success with.

In the short amount of time that she had known the older couple, she had come to admire their relational dynamics. Even while poking fun and making jokes at the other's expense, you could see the abundant amount of love that they had for one another.

These thoughts soon transformed into her considering how she wanted to develop a deeper relationship with the blonde. She wanted to work as hard, if not harder, than Gerald had in order to "get the girl," as he had put it. She wanted to buy Brittany flowers and take her on nice dates and basically make her feel as special as Santana knew she was. She wanted to do it all and then some.

The Latina was suddenly brought out of her thoughts by a weight being placed on her shoulder. Looking down slightly, she found that it had been caused by Brittany's head, which was now comfortably resting in the crook of her neck. She felt her jaw dropped slightly as her eyes began to widen.

The blonde must have felt Santana's body freeze up because without looking, she said, "Sorry, San. I'm just feeling really, really tired all of a sudden. Is it okay if I rest my head here for a bit?"

"Y-yeah, Britt. You're good," Santana stuttered out.

"Thanks, San," the blonde said as she snuggled up a little closer to the Latina to get comfortable.

"N-no problem."

The pair remained like that for the remainder of the trip. The bright side of the current circumstance was the fact that Santana was no longer dwelling on her previous thoughts. In fact, she wasn't capable of thinking of anything other than the weight on her shoulder as she fought to keep perfectly still and not disturb the slumbering blonde.

Once they had made it to their stop, Santana carefuly reached over and gave the girl's thigh a small but firm shake, "Hey, Britt. We made it."

Brittany quickly popped her head up and began looking around to get a bearing on her surroundings. Realizing where they were, she allowed Santana to help her stand up and began to follow the brunette out of the train car. Once they made it to the platform, however, the blonde stopped.

It took a minute for Santana to realize that she was no longer being followed, but when she did, she found the other woman standing in almost the exact spot they had stood on the day they met.

"Hey, San, can you believe that it's already been almost four months since we met right here in this very spot?" the blonde questioned as she looked over to the Latina.

Santana softly shook her head.

It had been a quick but amazing three and a half months since she had met her blonde companion. Santana started to think back to the day they first met and was quickly reminded that she was still not being completely honest with her friend. In that moment, she decided to set things straight and tell Brittany the truth of what really happened that day.

"Britt, I have something to tell you."

The blonde looked up from staring at the spot Santana had stood that day, "What is it, San?"

"I-I was," the Latina quietly cursed under her breath and decided to start over with a different approach. "Do you remember the story you told me about the unicorn and narwhal? How the unicorn threw the paper airplanes?"

Brittany gave her an inquisitive look, "Yeah, of course I do."

Santana gave a sharp nod, "What if I were to tell you that a unicorn wasn't the one to throw them?"

Interested to see where Santana was going with this, Brittany turned her body to full face the other girl, "Okay. Then who did?"

Santana tried to swallow but found her mouth completely dry, "Me."

"You?"

"Yes, it was me," Santana confirmed.

Brittany's face scrunched up even more in confusion, "Why would you throw so many paper airplanes in front of my building?"

"Because I was trying to get your attention," Santana stated. She allowed for a brief pause, but when the blonde made no move to speak, she continued, "I saw you walk into your office the afternoon after we had first seen each other here on the platform, and I don't know. I guess I just had to know you."

"So that thump on my window-"

"-was really just a paper airplane that I had made," the brunette finished for her. Then, she remembered something that she should add, "It was the one with the lip print, to be exact. The one you picked up."

"You mean the one that wouldn't stop hopping back onto my foot?" Brittany tried to clarify.

"Yes, that one. Do you remember how one of my sheets of paper got away from me and blew into your face?" When the other woman gave a small nod, she gave a gesture that hinted that the two pieces of paper were one in the same.

Trying to piece everything together, the blonde asked, "So, the lip mark was really from me?" This earned her a nod from the brunette.

Santana expected for Brittany to be upset with her, but she was met instead with a loud round of laughter from the ad exec, "And here I was thinking that it was a unicorn's magic that was making that paper airplane move. I knew that shade of lip gloss looked familiar."

Santana gave her an inquisitive look, "Wait, you're not mad?"

The blonde stopped and looked back up to the Latina with a serious expression, "What? Of course not, San."

"But I didn't tell you. I mean, I was going to tell you. In fact, I was going to tell you the first day we went out to lunch, but the waiter brought us our tickets and-"

"San, I get it. It's okay. What I'm more curious about is how the paper airplane moved on its own accord. I guess we'll just have to sum it up to us making our own magic until we can think of a better explanation, huh?" the blonde asked, lightly bumping her side into the Latina's.

Santana looked over at the beautiful woman she has gotten to know over the past few months and thought about how cool she was about everything. Most of the people Santana had encountered in her life would have been at least a little upset with her for withholding that kind of information for as long as she had, but not Brittany. That fact was a true testament to just how genuinely forgiving and sincere the blonde really was. She made Santana want to do better; be better. The brunette had never been known as an optimist, but Brittany made her want to believe in good things.

Santana continued to list off everything that she admired about the blonde in her head, and before she could even think to stop her train of thought, she found herself absentmindedly whispering out a quiet, "I love you."

It wasn't until wide blue eyes found hers that she realized what she had done and slapped her hands over her mouth.

"What did you say?" Brittany had a completely shocked expression on her face, which made the sheer panic Santana felt bubbling up in her chest intensify ten-fold. Keeping her hands where they were, she started shaking her head furiously, and the blonde saw nothing but fear in her friend's eyes.

Brittany slowly took a step forward in an attempt to decrease the amount of space that was between them before bringing her hands up to Santana's and giving a gentle tug as a sign to put them down. When Santana complied without meeting her gaze, she firmly told the girl, "Santana, I need you to repeat what you just said."

"I-I didn't mean to. I'm… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Santana said, taking a step away from the girl. Once there was a bit more distance between them, she stuttered out, "I-I think I can find my way h-home from here. Good night, Britt. I mean- Shit, I'm sorry. You probably don't want me calling you that anymore. Uh, g-good night, Brittany. Again, I'm sorry."

Spinning around, the brunette began briskly walking away with her head hung low. She wasn't sure she was going, but she was much too focused on doing everything in her power to hold herself together to even care at that point. She couldn't let herself fall apart. Not there. Not in front of Brittany.

"Santana Lopez! Don't just walk away from me!" Brittany yelled out to her, sounding a little frustrated and maybe even a little angry. That was more than enough to stop the Latina in her tracks.

She began to tear up at the thought of losing the blonde. She honestly couldn't imagine life now without her friendship. Unfortunately, there was a fine line between friends and trying for something more, and she had definitely crossed it.

She heard Brittany walking towards her and decided to keep her eyes trained on the ground as she continued to fight a losing battle to maintain her composure. She expected Brittany to start yelling at her and flinched slightly as the blonde brought her hands up towards her.

Brittany froze immediately with her hands awkwardly curled up just in front of her chest before quickly reaching out and throwing her arms around Santana's shoulders, pulling the girl into a tight embrace. "Santana," she said quietly, just barely above a whisper, "I really, really need you to repeat yourself, okay? Can you please do that for me?"

Santana was barely holding herself together at this point. Her body is starting to not cooperate, and she couldn't even bring herself to return the blonde's embrace. Not trusting her mouth, she shook her head 'no' against Brittany's shoulder.

"Please," the woman clinging to her pleaded.

"I-I," Santana was shaking so bad that she could barely keep herself standing. In fact, she was willing to bet that she'd be curled up on the ground by this point if it weren't for the blonde who was practically holding her up. The girl fought through her fear to continue, "I'm sorry, Britt. Please. I-I'm so sorry." That's when she starts sobbing into the girl's shoulder.

"San, don't be sorry. Just repeat what you said."

"I c-can't. I didn't mean-"

"Santana, look at me," Brittany said. When the brunette didn't comply, she repeated herself with a bit of firmness returning to her voice, "Look at me." The Latina did as she was told and sought out the eyes she had come to love over the course of the past few months. As soon as her fearful brown eyes met strong but cool baby blues, she felt herself relax in the girls arms, making Brittany relax in return, "There she is. Now, calm down because I'm going to need you to listen real carefully, okay?"

Santana gave a slight nod.

After giving her a moment, the blonde picked up her hand and placed it on the side of Santana's face as she began to trace over her high cheek bone with her thumb to wipe away a few tears, "I have a confession to make. It's something I probably should have told you a long time ago, but I couldn't find the words to say it until now."

Santana gave her a questioning look.

"I was watching you first, Santana."

The brunette's expression changed into one of confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I was so captivated by you that day at the train station that I couldn't look away. You were so beautiful and business-like in your navy blazer. I honestly couldn't take my eyes off you," the blonde said, gently reaching out to smooth down one of the lapels of Santana's current blazer. The girl took a deep breath and shakily breathed it out, "I don't think I would have ever snapped out of it if that piece of paper hadn't gotten away from me."

"Wait, so…?" Santana started before her voice was lost among the sea of thoughts floating around in her head as she fought to make sense of this new knowledge.

The blonde seemed to know where her statement had been headed, however, and gave a shrug, "I guess that sheet of paper I had to go chase down had finally gotten sick of me just standing there and decided to give me the little push I needed to go stand next to you," she said with a bashful smile. Then, her entire mood shifted to one of frustration, "Everything was going fine until I went and boarded that damn train. It wasn't even the right flipping one!" She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing, "I must have scolded myself for fifteen minutes after I had boarded that train because I thought I would never see you again and that I had lost my chance."

"Why did you board that train if it wasn't the right one?"

The ad executive heaved a quiet but slightly irritated sigh, "Well, I was about to ask for your name, but I got nervous and ran off into the first train I saw. It wasn't until the train had left the station that I realized that I had not only gotten on the wrong train, but that it was going in the opposite direction of where I needed to go. That's the reason why I ended up walking into work so late that day. Did you never wonder about that?"

Santana shook her head, feeling her body relaxing more and more as she continued to stare into Brittany's eyes.

"Anyways, so I explained that I had accidentally boarded the wrong train, which Chris didn't find too surprising since I have a tendency of getting lost. I immediately got right to work, and about thirty minutes later, I heard a thump on my window and decided to investigate. After looking all around, I decided to take a glance up, and there you were, in the building right across the street. I honestly couldn't believe it."

"Is that why you were so slow to answer my first few written messages?" the brunette asked, remembering how the girl had been almost completely unresponsive at first.

The blonde gave a nod with a shy smile. A minute later, she became a little more playful, but still maintained her shyness, "Since we're all being honest here, I also have another thing I would like to confess."

Santana's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Without waiting for Santana to tell her to continue, she said, "I didn't really forget my lunch the day we went to get Baja tacos. I just really wanted to have lunch with you... Well, I also really wanted some Baja tacos, but it was mostly because of you."

The girls share a laugh before Santana asked, "Is there anything else you feel you need to get off your chest while we're just standing here on a train platform like a couple of creeps?"

The girl gave a thoughtful pause, "Actually, yeah. There's one more thing. You know how I laid my head on your shoulder earlier because I said I was 'tired?'" the blonde questioned, making air-quotations for the last word she spoke.

"Yeah."

"Well, I might have lied about the being tired part. Until I actually dozed off, that is."

Santana couldn't help but chuckle at Brittany's honesty.

Now that everything was out in the open between them, the women set to figuring out how they would go about getting home. Brittany persistently insisted on walking Santana to her apartment. Santana eventually agreed to the blonde's request, but only after receiving a reluctant promise from Brittany to allow her to pay for a cab to get the blonde home safe.

"Alright, so since that's settled, you ready to go?" the accountant asked after their eight minute bartering session.

The blonde quickly took out her phone and hit the unlock button, effectively lighting up the screen, before relocking it and placing it back in her purse, "Yes, but I have a quick question first, though."

Not being able to think of what could possibly be left to ask, Santana responded, "Yeah, Britt?"

"It's after midnight now, which means it's my turn for 20 Questions, right?"

The Latina smiled, quietly responding, "Yeah, I guess so."

Brittany gave a quick nod as she motioned for the Latina to lead the way. Brittany got started asking questions right away, running through them faster than usual. At one point she even tried to repeat a question that she had asked a couple of weeks before, but when the Latina asked the ad executive why she was rushing through them instead of taking the time to think up other questions, Brittany simply responded, "No reason."

By the time they had reached Santana's apartment complex, a cab had arrived and was waiting to take Brittany to her own apartment.

Santana turned to look at the blonde, "Thank you for walking me home, Britt-Britt."

"Not a problem. Oh, and before I go, question twenty-"

"Go on a date with me!" Santana suddenly yelled out as she was overcome by the rush of courage she had been trying to work up the entire walk home, unintentionally cutting off Brittany in the process.

Brittany quickly threw her head back and looked up at the sky, "Are you kidding me?" Looking back down at a confused brunette, she clarified, "That was totally going to be my last question!"

"Well, I guess that's what you get for trying to be climactic," Santana responded cheekily as she ran over to the cab to open the door for her. "Oh, and I'm paying. It's an official rule, so there!"

* * *

_So, may I start by saying that I intentionally listed to "Confessions Part II" by Usher multiple times while writing this chapter. Probably the best idea ever for a confessions-filled chappy... Thankfully, my chapter has absolutely nothing to do with the content of Usher's song. ("Boy, that [would have] escalated quickly.") __I also might have also listened to "U Got It Bad" a couple of times. (A couple of times as in I had both songs switching interchangeably on a loop at one point.) It was great._

_Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I've been working on it for a while now and decided that today would be the day to post it, so here it is. _

_I also just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for supporting this story and giving me such wonderful feedback over the past six (and now seven) __chapters. Your comments, favorites, and follows always help brighten my day, so thank you all so much._

_I hope you have a wonderful week, and I'll see you all next chapter!_


	8. An Unexpected Visitor

It had been two weeks. Two entire weeks, and not a single word about their impending date had been mentioned. In fact, there had been no further mention of that night at all. Santana had begun to wonder if she had imagined the whole thing until Chris came into Brittany's office one day to talk to the ad executive about her current project. After noticing that she was talking to the accountant, he took Brittany's whiteboard out of her hands and sent a joking message asking Santana how the weather was over there, with _over there_ being just across the street and a floor down from where he and Brittany stood.

So, it had officially been confirmed with the help of Chris and Santana's wall calendar that it had really been two weeks later, and Santana was still trying to regain the courage that seemed to have all but dissipated since the night of the office party. The brunette was making real progress today, however, and had even taken the time to write out a few practice messages in order to try and find the best way to bring the topic back up. She was almost done creating her foolproof plan when she noticed the blonde walk into her office.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward out of the reclined state her chair had been in, and she grabbed her dry erase board to send their usual good morning message, which was an crucial part of the first step in her plan: _act natural_.

She was almost done writing when she glanced up and noticed that something was off with the blonde. Brittany didn't carry the normal spunk she usually possessed. In fact, the girl looked so dejected that Santana could have almost sworn that there was a tiny rain cloud hanging over her head.

_"Good morning, Britt-Britt," _she attempted to tell the blonde but failed to get the girl's attention.

It took nearly five minutes for the blonde to look up, but when she did, Santana could tell that something wasn't right. Even from all the way across the street in her small cubicle, Santana could see the storm of conflicting emotions that was raging behind the girl's eyes. Brittany looked as if she were completely lost.

When Brittany had finally noticed the message, she felt her eyes widened in remembrance of their morning routine, which had previously gone forgotten.

Santana watched as Brittany rushed over to her desk to retrieve the whiteboard she kept in its large side drawer. As soon as she had the board in her hands, Brittany started writing down an apology to the brunette, _"I am so sorry, San. I don't know where my head is at this morning. I guess it's because I'm sad panda today, and it's making me a little distracted."_

_"Why so glum, Chum?"_ the Latina sent back in an attempt to brighten the blonde's mood at least a little.

She watched as a small, almost unnoticeable, half-smile pulled at the other woman's lips, but it was gone just as soon as it had appeared when she replied, _"Well, I found out that my uncle is going off his medication. He's been fighting cancer for years now, but they found out that it had reached his lungs a few months ago. Now, it's everywhere, and they don't think the treatments are helping him anymore. My mom called me this morning with the news…"_

When Santana spotted the ellipsis, she knew that Brittany had a little more to say but had simply run out of room on the whiteboard, so she gave her a quick nod to tell her she had finished reading. Turning the board back towards herself, the ad exec wrote out the second part of her message, _"They don't expect him to live much longer, and I guess that just makes me really sad."_

_"Aw, Britt. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this right now. Are you planning to go back home?"_

The Latina watched as the other woman let out a long sigh, _"My family knows that I am in the middle of finishing up my first big project since my promotion, and they are all encouraging me to stay here until things take a turn for the worst so that I don't have to push back the presentation date..." _She gave Santana a moment to finish reading before writing out,_ "They keep mentioning how nothing about his condition has changed yet and that I should just try to focus on everything that I've got going on right now, but I can't help but think that I'm making the wrong decision by staying here. Like, what if I'm too late?"_

It was as if a pile of bricks had been thrown onto the Latina's chest, and she wondered why something so bad had to happen to someone like Brittany. The girl's love for her uncle was undeniable. The brunette could see it in her eyes as plain as day, and Santana couldn't help but imagine him being just as kind and undeserving as his conflicted niece, who was currently on the verge of tears. The accountant felt as if she had just watched someone kick a puppy or even worse, watched the blonde watch someone kick a puppy.

Not being able to take the devastated look on her friend's face any longer, she quickly devised a way to help the blonde take her mind off of the current situation, _"Hey, would you maybe like to go to the park after work? I could finally get around to teaching you how to make my super awesome paper airplanes, if you feel up to it."_

Santana couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment as Brittany's expression grew a little brighter, _"You mean it?"_

_"Yes, of course! We can even stop by the coffee shop and grab a couple of hot chocolates to help stay warm. What do you say?"_

_"I say that sounds like an awfully good plan right now," _the blonde answered with a broad smile.

Feeling her own smile grace her face, Santana wrote back, _"Well, that's what I was hoping for."_

* * *

As soon as five o'clock came around, the girls left work to meet up with one another on the street below. Once they had made their way over to one another, they exchanged a quick greeting and turned to make their way towards Santana's favorite coffee shop.

After they had received their drinks, they walked over to the nearest open table so the brunette could start her paper airplane making tutorial, "Okay, you ready to see how I like to make a paper airplane?"

"Yes!" Brittany exclaimed as she clapped her hands in excitement.

Grateful that the other woman seemed to have regained at least some of the normal pep back in her step, Santana began, "Okay, the first thing you do is get a piece of paper." She reached down towards her briefcase and unzipped it so that she could grab two sheets of computer paper. Handing one over to the blonde, she started explaining the next step, "Now, fold it hotdog style. The key here is to make sure you match up the corners as much as you can."

"Like this?" Brittany asked as she held up her now folded piece of paper.

"Yeah, that's perfect. So, the next thing you need to do is unfold it and grab the top corner so you can fold it in like this," Santana instructed as she folded the corner towards the middle crease, adding, "And you'll do that for both sides."

Brittany gave a slight nod as she focus on the task at hand, and Santana couldn't help but smile at the look on the blonde's face as she sucked in her bottom lip and scrunched her eyebrows together in concentration.

Santana continued listing off steps, and once they had finished their first basic design, Santana started explaining other ways to make paper airplanes. After they had created a few using several different methods, the girls flattened them as best they could and stashed them in their purses so that they could make their way to the park around the block.

Within no time, the two women found themselves walking through an open grassy area with a few park benches sprinkled about and a large duck pond located at the center.

"I love to come here sometimes on my way home from work to watch the ducks. It's the perfect way to unwind after a stressful day," Brittany told the Latina as she kept her eyes on the small body of water.

"Yeah, I figured as much, which is why I decided to snag this from the break room before I left the office," Santana said as she began to dig in her briefcase and pulled out a slightly squashed loaf of bread.

"San, I can't feed somebody else's bread to the ducks!" the ad exec playfully scolded.

Rolling her eyes, Santana responded, "I promise I'll have their loaf replaced by tomorrow afternoon. Now, stop worrying so much. We got ducks to feed!"

The girls spent the next hour or so playing with the ducks and flying their paper creations before they finally settled down and took a seat on a nearby park bench. Santana wasn't exactly sure when it happened, but she suddenly found her arm wrapped around Brittany's shoulders. Brittany soon followed the motion by bringing herself a little closer so she could lay her head on the brunette's shoulder.

"Hey, San," the blonde suddenly whispered.

"Yeah, Britt?"

"Thank you for today."

Tightening her hold around the girl slightly, Santana responded, "Anytime, Britt-Britt."

* * *

Santana had just stepped into her apartment after walking Brittany home and quickly dug her phone out of her purse so she could send Brittany a text to let her know that she had made it home alright. Unlocking the device she found two new text messages, one from Brittany and the other from her mother, and quickly moved to open the one from the blonde first.

_To San: Hey, I know I told you this right before you left in the taxi, but I just wanted to thank you again for turning my day around. I seriously don't know what I would have done if you weren't there to help cheer me up._

The Latina couldn't help but smile at Brittany's message and went to type out a response.

_To Britt-Britt: Aw, I had a ton of fun with you today, so it was really no problem. By the way, I made it back safe and sound. I think I'm about to eat dinner and head to bed, so I'll talk to you in the morning. Good night, Britt._

By the time she had made it to the kitchen, she had already received a picture of Brittany and what she assumed to be Lord Tubbington cuddled up in the blonde's bed with Brittany smiling widely as she held up the cat's paw to make it look like he was waving to the camera. Underneath, Brittany had typed a message for the brunette.

_To San: Alrighty. Lord Tubbington hopes you get a puuuuuuurfect night's rest. Good night, San!_

Staring down at the text, Santana felt a wide grin stretch across her face before being reduced to a fit of giggles. She couldn't help it with Brittany sending her such a cute good night text, which led her to wonder what it would be like to get good night texts from the blonde every night.

"Uh, oh. Looks like somebody's got it bad," an ominous voice suddenly called out from behind the Latina.

"Holy sh-" Santana began to say as her entire body was overtaken by a jolt of surprise.

"Santana! Language!" the voice yelled out over her own. Now that her body had gotten over the initial shock, she was able to fully process what was going on and realized just who was standing in her apartment.

Spinning around, the Latina let out a frustrated groan, "Mom, what have I told you about coming over without telling me? I didn't give you a spare key just so you could come in here and scare the tar out of me. What if I had been carrying mace or something?"

"I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been able to do much of anything considering how focused you were on your phone. By the way, I sent a text to let you know that I would be in here waiting for you, but I assume that you ignored it so that you could read your lovergirl's text. So, who is she?"

"What?" Santana was completely dumbfounded by her mother's accurate assumption.

The older woman rolled her eyes, "Please, Santana. You and I both know that you are not exactly one to giggle, let alone turn into the pile of mush that you were when I walked into the room."

"Okay, yeah. I'm not talking about this with you."

"Why? Scared I'm going to embarrass you if I meet your _girlfriend_," her mother drug out in a teasing manner with a wide smile.

"She's not my girlfriend," Santana shot back tersely.

"Then, what is she?" her mother asked curiously.

"She's my… my… Look, I don't know what she is. I know Brittany and I are friends. You could even maybe call us best friends. I just don't know if we're talking or not talking or what. I mean, I feel like she's interested. Actually, I _know_ she's interested, but…"

"But you don't want any kind of misinterpretation," the older woman finished.

Santana let out a long sigh, responding, "Exactly, which is why I am taking this a step at a time and also why have I haven't told you. I'd like to get an idea of what this is for myself before I start going around telling people about it."

Her mother gave an understanding look, "Alright, Santana. I'm sorry I pushed the topic. How about we just drop it for now?"

The suggestion elicited an eager nod from the accountant as she went to change the subject, "Not to sound disappointed by your visit or anything, but why exactly are you here?"

"I had some extra vacation days and decided to come see my favorite daughter since she wasn't able to come home for Christmas this year," the older woman responded.

"I'm your only daughter, and child for that matter," Santana sarcastically noted.

"Details," the woman said, waving her hand in a nonchalant manner before asking, "Would you happen to be free for lunch tomorrow? I was thinking about taking you out so we could catch up."

"Yeah, I can do lunch. I'll just have to text Britt and reschedule with her first."

Just as Santana reached out to grab her cellphone to give the blonde a heads up, the other woman firmly placed her hand on top of her daughter's, rendering her incapable of picking up the device, "Nonsense. Why don't you just invite her to join us? Lord knows I haven't met any of your friends since you moved away from home."

Santana wanted nothing more than to protest, but she knew her mother almost always found a way to win their mother/daughter arguments and didn't even bother to put up a fight. Letting out a small groan, she followed her mother's request and sent a text to Brittany.

_To Britt-Britt: Hey, I know I said I was going to bed and stuff, but it turns out my mother decided to drop by for a surprise visit… Emphasis on the surprise. Anyways, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind her joining us for lunch tomorrow._

While waiting for a response for the blonde, Santana went back to finding something to eat for dinner. The accountant and her mother were both seated at the dining room table when Brittany's reply finally came.

_To San: Of course she can come with us! Seriously, San, what made you even think you had to ask?_

_To Britt-Britt: Well, I just wanted to make sure. I honestly didn't know she was coming or else I would have given you more of a heads up._

_To San: Don't worry about it. I'd love to meet your mother._

_To Britt-Britt: I'll give her the okay to come then._

_To San: Alright, that sounds good. See you tomorrow, San. Good night!_

_To Britt-Britt: Good night, Britt._

Santana relayed the Brittany's message to the older woman before getting up to take a shower so that she could finally go to bed. She figured she was going to need as much rest as she could possibly get in order to prepare her for the meeting between her mother and the blonde, and it wasn't because she didn't think they wouldn't get along. She thought quite the opposite, in fact. She was afraid they would get along a little too well, making her an easy target for embarrassment.

* * *

Santana's mother ended up meeting them the following afternoon at the same Baja taco place they had eaten at the first time they went out for lunch, which had since become a regular hang out place for the girls.

After walking up to her daughter and giving her a tight hug, Santana's mother made her way towards the ad executive, "Hi, you must be Brittany. I'm Maribel, Santana's mother."

"It's nice to meet you, Maribel. I'm glad that you could join us for lunch."

"So am I. I've always wanted to meet some of Santana's city friends, but she's a little hardheaded and likes to keep her home and city life separate. Anyways, I'm going to go get us a table." Maribel said before walking off.

"Seriously, we don't have to eat lunch with her if you don't feel up to it," Santana leaded in to whisper into Brittany's ear, hoping that the blonde would change her mind. As if knowing the brunette's true intentions, Brittany rolled her eyes and made her way over towards the older woman, leaving Santana to stand there alone until she finally made a move to follow behind the other two women.

The trio were soon sitting in a booth, looking through the menu as Maribel and Brittany got to know one another. Unfortunately for Santana, it took her mother almost no time at all to feel at liberty to disclose some of Santana's most embarrassing moments that the older woman just so happened to have witnessed. After she was finished with that topic, she began telling into story after story about how much of a troublemaker Santana was growing up.

"I swear, this one was a little heathen. Has she ever told you her middle name?" Maribel chuckled out as she pointed over to her daughter.

The blonde gave a quick nod, "Yes, we have this ongoing game of 20 Questions, and that was one of the first questions I asked her. Is Diabla supposed to be Spanish for something? She wouldn't tell me."

The younger Latina's eyes widened at this question and turned to her mother with a warning look, "Don't you dare."

"It means _she-devil_, Brittany. You'll be able to see why once you see her lose her temper, assuming you haven't already," the woman said, completely ignoring her daughter's empty threat.

"Mom! Callate!"

Acknowledging her daughter's previous comment, Maribel turned her head to give Santana a stern look, which Brittany immediately picked up on, "San, what did you just say?"

"Nothing," the girl grumbled.

"She told me to shut up in Spanish, Dear," Maribel informed the blonde.

Brittany gasped, "Santana! That is no way to talk to your mother!"

"But she just-"

The ad executive sent her friend a harsh glare as she cut her off, "I don't care. Apologize."

"But-"

"Apologize."

Heaving a sigh, the Latina reluctantly looked over to her mother and said in the sincerest voice she could muster, "I'm sorry."

Placing a hand on her knee briefly to get her to look at her, Brittany replied with a quiet, "Thank you," causing Santana's mood to do a complete one-eighty.

"How in the world did you do that?" Maribel questioned out of pure astonishment of the blonde's power over her daughter.

Brittany tore her gaze way from Santana to look at her new acquaintance, "It's pretty simple. I just-"

Santana covered her face with her hands and tried to speak over the blonde, "You know, I don't think you doing it is going to have quite the same effect on me, Mom." When she received no response, she repeated, "Mom?" Still being met with no reply, she uncovered her face to find the other two women still carrying on their own conversation while blatantly ignoring Santana's comments. Realizing this, Santana quietly muttered to herself, "Oh my gosh, I have never felt like more of a third-wheel in my entire life. You'd think you two were the ones who were dating with the way you're acting."

The brunette's slip up instantly caught the two women's attention as they snapped their eyes up towards her. Letting out a loud groan, Santana brought her hands up once again to rub her face in frustration, "Of course you would hear me as soon as I accidentally say the word _dating_. Naturally."

Brittany gently gave the girl's knee a squeeze, "Hey, it's okay, San." She then gave the girl a wide grin that Santana immediately mirrored as she stared into the blonde's eyes.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Maribel suddenly cut in, effectively snapping the two girl's out of their trance.

Not even bothering to make any further comments, Santana just settled for letting out a defeated sigh as she stood up and announced that she would be in the bathroom, though the other two women had already launched into their next topic and were once again paying her no mind.

Upon her return about five minute later, she spotted her mother handing the waiter the bill holder while the blonde attempted to protest, "Seriously, Maribel. I can pay for my meal."

"Look, there is no way I am letting you pay, so you might as well let it go," Santana's mother said with a confident smirk, knowing that she had already won.

The blonde immediately recognized the expression as one of the many she had seen Santana frequently sporting and said, "Well, at least I know where Santana gets her stubbornness from."

The pair let out a laugh, still not realizing that the other Latina had returned, and Maribel added, "Yeah, you know what they say. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Santana gave a little cough to get their attention, and after spotting the accountant, Maribel and Brittany had a couple more laughs as they gathered their things so that they could leave.

Once they were ready, they all started to make their way towards the door. Santana turned to follow behind Brittany but was almost instantly pulled backwards by the arm. Turning around, she found her mother and gave the woman a questioning look.

"You better marry her someday, Santanita," Maribel whispered to her daughter.

"Mom! Are you fu-"the Latina started to whispered back before receiving a pointed look from her mother, who knew the exact word she was about to say. She gave a quick frustrated sigh as she corrected herself, "Are you effing kidding me right now? We're not even officially dating. We haven't even been on one real date yet, for that matter."

"And just exactly whose fault is that?" the older woman challenged. Receiving a confused expression from her daughter, she said, "Brittany told me that you had asked her on a date a couple of weeks ago but you haven't brought it up since. Poor girl looked so discouraged that I could hardly stand it."

"She did?"

"Yeah, and you need to fix it. That girl is like a ray of sunshine, and she doesn't need your cloud of stupidity preventing her from shining," Maribel said, trying to talk some sense into her daughter.

"Look, now's not the time. She's dealing with some family stuff, and I'd really like to not get in the way of that. What if I were to somehow make matters worse for her?" Santana tried to reason.

"That didn't seem to be the case when she was telling me about how excited she was. I think you just need to put on your big girl britches and grow a spine. Seriously, the Santana I used to know would have never taken this long to ask someone out," Maribel shot back.

"Yeah, well she's different," Santana shot back as she nodded towards the retreating blonde.

"I know, and that's why you shouldn't be fiddle-farting around while she just stands there waiting. She can't wait forever for you to find a way to get your head out of your behind, Santana."

"I know," Santana said as she heaved another sigh, "I'll work on it."

The older woman gave a satisfied smile, "Good girl. Oh, and about the wedding. I was thinking-"

"Okay, yeah. I think it's time to go. See you at home. Love you. Bye!" she quickly spat out as she ran to grab Brittany's arm, "Come on, Britt-Britt. Let's get out of here."

Unable to free herself from the Latina's grasp, she looked back to the older woman, yelling, "Bye, Maribel! It's was nice to meet you!"

"You, too, Brittany! Stay in touch!" Maribel called out between laughs after seeing her daughter's reaction to her teasing.

"I will!" the blonde yelled over her shoulder before facing forward so she could see where she was going.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it._

_Also, I know I keep saying this, but I am heading into another round of exams, so I'm not sure when Chapter 9 will be posted. I just wanted to give you all a heads up._

_Anyways, I hope see you next time!_


	9. Nerves

Santana's weekend with her mother turned out surprisingly well.

Saturday, the pair spent their time walking around the city and catching up on everything that had been going on in each other's lives. They then spent their evening vegging out on the couch in Santana's living room while watching Lifetime movies, much to Maribel's delight and her daughter's dismay. They were even able to Face Time Santana's father once he got home from a long day of working at the hospital, reminding Santana just how much she had missed hanging out with her parents.

Maribel was supposed to stay through to the following weekend but had received an unexpected call from her secretary Monday morning telling her that one of the firm's bigger clients desperately needed to arrange a meeting with her sometime before the following afternoon. She tried to have the meeting moved to the next Monday so she wouldn't have to cut her visit with her daughter short, but it was apparently an urgent emergency.

Heaving a sigh, Maribel knew that she had to return to Lima as soon as possible and told her secretary to call them back to inform them that they would probably have to wait until the next morning but that she was willing do them a favor just this once. Dialing her daughter's work phone, she explained what was going on and fervently apologized for having to leave without more notice.

This type of occurrence was nothing new for the Lopez family, however, so it really didn't surprise the young Latina. Santana had lived with her lawyer mother and surgeon father for the first eighteen years of her life, so she knew how much time and hard work their jobs required.

Understanding her mother's importance at the firm, she reassured the woman that she had nothing to worry about. The accountant also took the time to remind Maribel that she would be taking off of work in a few months to go home as a way of making up for the family time she had missed when she couldn't drive down for Christmas.

This bit of information helped the older woman relax considerably. Not wanting to waste any more time or get her daughter in trouble for talking on the phone while she was at work, Maribel quickly announced that she already found the next available flight and would be leaving for the airport sometime within the next hour or so.

Santana wished her mother a safe trip before they exchanged goodbyes and hung up the phone.

Leaning back in her chair slightly, the accountant began to absentmindedly drum on the desktop in front of her as she attempted to wrap her head around the latest developments. She'd be lying if she were to say that she wasn't bummed about her mother leaving without a proper send off, but she knew that the lawyer had to do what she had to do.

Maribel was amazing at what she did, like true Lopez family fashion, and if Santana was being completely honest with herself, she would have to admit that she had always looked up to her mother as a role model. Santana was also aware that her parents had a tendency of throwing themselves into their work, which eventually led her to doing the same with her own career.

The thought of work soon reminded her where she was, causing her to lean up to get back to what she had previously been doing before her mother's phone call. Before she could get very far, however, there was a tap on her window.

Pushing herself over to her window without getting up from her office chair, she found Brittany standing in front in her office with a bag of M&M's sitting on the windowsill and her dry erase board in hand, _"Hey, it's 12:30. Ready to head to lunch?"_

Santana quickly gave the girl a thumbs up to show her approval and pointed downward to say that she would meet the blonde down below.

_"Okay, I'll see you down there!"_ Brittany replied before stepping away from the window so she could retrieve her stuff and leave. Santana copied the motion and made her way towards the office elevators.

* * *

The pair walked couple of blocks from their buildings to one of their most recent lunch destinations, a restaurant where customers could to build their own customized burritos. After they had gone through the line and received their neatly wrapped meals, the pair made their way to a booth and sat down.

While they got busy unwrapping the foil from around their lunch, Brittany mentioned, "So, I heard Mama Lopez had to leave earlier than expected. Is everything alright back home?"

Santana immediately stopped what she was doing and snapped her eyes over to the girl sitting across from her, "Wait, I'm sorry. Mama who?"

"Mama Lopez," Brittany said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Santana feels her eyes widen in realization, "Are you seriously calling my mother that right now? "

"Um, yes?" Brittany answered, clearly baffled by the girl's concern.

"You were perfectly fine with calling her Maribel when we left lunch three days ago. What changed?"

The blonde gave a shrug, "I don't know. I guess I just somehow started calling her that after we started texting."

Santana instantly choked on the bite she had just taken and started coughing harshly into the hand that wasn't holding her burrito.

"Oh my gosh! San, are you okay?" Brittany asked as she slid out of her seat and around to the other side of the table. As soon as she was seated, she started giving her friend strong pats on the back.

Santana quickly placed her lunch down so she could grab her glass of water without uncovering her mouth and took a few large gulps. Giving one last cough, the brunette looked over at the blonde and asked in a strained voice, "What did you just say?"

Thinking back to her last statement, Brittany said, "I started calling her that."

The accountant lightly shook her head, "No, after that."

Brittany's eyebrows slowly scrunched together in confusion, "Um, ever since?"

"Keep going," Santana urged.

"We started?"

"Just a little more."

"Texting?"

"_Bingo_," Santana said with emphasis before asking, "Brittany, since when do you and my mother have each other's phone number?"

Brittany felt herself slowly be overcome by a sense of relief, answering, "Oh, yeah. We exchanged them while you were in the bathroom."

Santana let out a long sigh, knowing perfectly well that this was all her mother's doing, "Of course you did." Seeking to lighten the mood after her chocking debacle, she added, "Seriously, are you sure there isn't a thing going on between you two? Because my dad would be super pissed at you if there was."

They both started busting out laughing at the thought while Brittany gave Santana a light slap on the arm, "No, your mother and I don't have a _thing _going on between us. Besides, I'm a one woman kind of girl, and I already have my sights set on someone else."

"Oh, you do?" Santana challenged.

"I do," the blonde confirmed with a bashful grin.

That was when Santana remembered the little talk her and her mother had right before leaving lunch on the day Maribel had met the blonde, "Hey Britt, I have something I want to talk to you about."

Sensing the shift in mood, Brittany's expression became a little more serious, "Okay."

"You, uh, you know that night after the office party? When you walked me home?"

"Yeah," Brittany confirmed, wondering where Santana was going with the conversation.

"Do you remember what I asked you that night? That thing I beat you to saying."

"You mean the date?" Brittany clarified, already knowing the answer. She didn't have to wait for a response from the Latina before she continued, "So, you _do_ remember asking me out."

Santana felt her eyes widen out shock of what she just heard, "Of course I do! That's all I've been able to think about for weeks."

"Then, why are you just now bringing it back up?" Brittany asked. There was no anger or frustration in the blonde's voice, just genuine curiosity.

Letting out a sigh, Santana prepared herself for everything she was about to say, "Brittany, I don't think you quite understand how much you truly intimidate me." Watching the blonde's face instantly drop, Santana noticed how she could have been easily misunderstood, "No, not like that, B! What I mean to say is that I have never known anyone quite like you. You're beautiful, innocent, and basically everything that's good in this miserable, stinking world."

Taken aback by the woman's boldness, Brittany tried to add, "So are you, Santana."

Santana immediately started shaking her head, "No, I'm not. Back in high school, I did a lot of bad things to people who were just as kind and wonderful as you. They had never done anything wrong or spiteful in their entire life. They would have never wished something bad on another person, not even someone like me who made their life a living hell. I was the exact opposite of them, Britt. I was a really, really bad person, and it's taken years for me to come to terms with who I was at back then."

"But isn't that the point? You _were_ that person once upon a time, but San, that's not who you are now."

Santana diverted her eyes away from the blonde as her insecurities finally got the best of her, "That doesn't mean I don't worry about my entire world crumbling down in the blink of an eye. What goes around comes around, and karma's not exactly on my side after all the shit I used to pull."

"Well, we randomly met on a train station platform, and just when we thought we would never see one another again, we found each other working in the building right across the street. What about that?"

Santana felt her shoulders slump, "I don't know, and I think that's what scares me the most. Like, what if someone better comes along, or even worse, you finally see me for who I really am?"

The blonde gave her friend a sympathetic look, "San, you can't keep putting yourself down for this. I understand that what you did back then has been hard on you, but at least you grew up and learned from your mistakes after you graduated. Not everyone is able to experience that, so you should be counting yourself lucky."

After a short moment of silence, Santana gave a small shrug, "I just can't help but wish that I could somehow take it all back. That I had the chance to travel back in time and go all Lima Heights on myself before I could get as bad as I did."

"What do you mean 'go all Lima Heights?'"

Taking in a deep breath, Santana replied, "Well, I used to act tough and tried to back my badass credibility by insinuating that I was from the rough part of town, Lima Heights, when I really lived in one of the ritziest neighborhoods, Lima Heights Adjacent. Basically, going Lima Heights is me going apeshit on somebody's ass."

"Aw, I bet you were a cute fake badass."

Santana snapped her eyes over to the Brittany's, "It is _not_ cute, or fake for that matter. I was and will forever be a total and complete badass."

"_Sure_ you will," Brittany shot back sarcastically before saying, "Oh, and you might wish that you could take all that stuff back, but I don't. Not for a second." When she saw her friend give her a questioning look, she elaborated, "If you hadn't done all that stuff back then, you wouldn't be the same amazing woman that I have come to know over the past few months, and I can honestly say that I wouldn't trade knowing this version of Santana 'She-Devil' Lopez for the world."

"You wouldn't?" Santana asked in surprise.

Brittany just rolled her eyes, "Of course not, San. Don't be silly. Anyways, I think we've gotten away from what's really important here." When Santana didn't seem to understand her statement, she asked, "Are we going to schedule this date or not?"

Still a little shocked by everything Brittany had just said, Santana slowly began to nod before asking her if she was free Friday night, which she fortunately was. Now that a day had been set, Santana was able to finally start focusing on planning the actual date, itself.

* * *

It was the night before the big date, and Santana had everything ready to go. Dinner reservations had been made, flowers had been ordered, and she had even found a little gift that the ad exec was bound to love. Everything was going perfectly, which really aided the accountant's ability to keep her nerves in check.

That was, until she received a phone call from the blonde around midnight, which immediately set off a red flag in the brunette's mind considering the fact that Brittany was supposed to have gone to bed hours ago.

"Hey, Britt-Britt," the Latina attempted to greet cheerfully before hearing the girl on the other side of the line making quiet sniffling noises, "Britt? Is everything okay?"

With an overwhelming sadness weighing down on her usually carefree tone, Brittany blurted out, "I'm sorry for calling so late, San, but I just found out a couple hours ago and I didn't know what to do and there were a lot of things I had to take care of and I-"

"Woah! Slow down, Britt. It's okay. I was already up," Santana cut in, trying to put the blonde's mind a little more at ease.

She heard the girl let out a sigh on the other side of the line, "Okay, but I just needed to tell you that I won't be able to make it to the date."

This was exactly what she had been afraid of while still searching for the courage to approach Brittany about the date, but knowing that Brittany wouldn't cancel without a good reason, she turned her attention back to the blonde, "What happened, B?"

"It's my uncle. He-he's back in the hospital, and I have to go see him. I have get there before he…" Brittany trailed of before her body was wracked with sobs, "I'm so sorry, San."

"Brittany, I get it. You don't have to explain yourself to me, especially for something like this. You need to go be with your uncle and the rest family right now, and that's completely understandable. Both I and our date will still be here when you get back, so don't even bother worrying about that, okay?" After receiving a mumbled 'okay' from the blonde, she asked, "When does your flight leave?"

"Tomorrow morning at six was the earliest flight I could book."

"Do you have a way of getting there yet?"

Brittany let out a sigh, "No, I'm probably about to call the taxi service after I get off the phone with you."

"Don't bother. I'll take you," the Latina concluded.

"San, no. Tomorrow is your day off. You sleep in. I'll be fine," Brittany tried to reason, but Santana refused to budge on the matter.

"I'll be up early regardless of whether I am picking you up or not, so please, just let me drive you to the airport and see you off. You get to save some money, and I'll have a chance to see you before my little Britt-Britt-Ray-of-Sunshine drought. It's a win-win."

"Okay, San, but you have to promise to call me if you're too tired and don't feel up to coming to get me in the morning, okay?"

"I won't be. That's my promise," Santana said confidently.

"Well, just humor me by making another promise then. Please."

Santana complied with the blonde's request and muttered out a reluctant promise to inform the woman, thought she knew full well that she was prepared to bend over backwards for the blonde at the drop of a hat if Brittany needed her to. She would do almost anything to put a smile back on Brittany's face.

* * *

Santana picked Brittany up outside of the woman's apartment building around 4:00 AM to make sure that Brittany would have plenty of time to check-in, drop off her luggage, and go through processing. Brittany was doing her best to put up a strong front as they made their way to the airport and even managed to crack a few light jokes. Santana saw through her friend's attempt to seem as happy-go-lucky as usually but thought it was probably for the best to not say anything, so she just went along with it.

Eventually, they reach the drop-off portion of the airport, which was surprisingly empty for even that time of morning. Figuring that they could take their time, Santana place the car in park and stopped Brittany before she could get out of the car. "I have something for you. I was going to wait until I came to pick you up for our date, but I think you need it more now," Santana said as she reached into the back seat and retrieved a medium-sized stuffed duck.

"Oh my goodness, San! He's so cute! Thank you," Brittany exclaimed as she took the duck into her hands and quickly asked Santana to pop the trunk.

The brunette did as she is told, but before she could even make it to the back of the car to help the girl unload her things, Brittany was standing in front of her, shoving something into her hands. Looking down, she spotted Mr. Bear.

"I thought you might want someone to cuddle up with, too," Brittany said, drawing Santana's attention back up to her.

"Aw, thank you, Britt. I'll be sure to take good care of him while you're gone," Santana responded as she turned to place him in the driver seat. After her hands were free once more, the Latina made her way over to the trunk of her car to help Brittany with her things. By the time she got back there, however, the blonde's bags were already unpacked and laying on the ground next to the car, "I was going to help you, you know."

Brittany simply shrugged, "It's no big deal. They aren't that heavy. By the way, I really am sorry that I have to cancel on you."

"It's okay. We can just take a rain check."

"Alright, but you better not take so long to bring it up this time," the blonde warned, causing them both to start laughing.

"I won't. I promise," Santana said, holding up her pinky for the blonde to take. Almost as soon as Brittany's finger was wrapped tightly around the Latina's, their eyes connected. They continued looking at one another for the next few minutes without any signs of moving. Suddenly, Brittany took another step forward so she could wrap her arms around the brunette's neck, "Try not have too much fun while I'm gone, alright?"

Santana brought her arms to wrap around the blonde's waist as she buried her face into the girl's shoulder, "Okay, I'll try."

After a minute or two, Brittany started to lean back a bit, "I guess I better get going. Wouldn't want to miss my flight."

Santana slowly unraveled herself from around the blonde before taking a small step back, "Alright, B. Call me if you ever need someone to talk to. Day or night. It doesn't matter to me."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Brittany said as she reached for Santana's hand and gave it a firm squeeze, "Bye, San. Thanks again for bringing me. I really appreciate it."

Returning the gesture, Santana replied, "The pleasure was all mine, Britt-Britt. I hope you have a safe trip. Text me when you land."

Brittany gave the girl a nod as he went to take step away, but before she could get very far, she found herself moving back towards the Latina.

Before Santana knew what was happening, Brittany's free hand was cupping her cheek to steady the girl as the blonde placed a firm kiss to her forehead, and everything momentarily blacked out for the brunette. When her her body had finally caught up with her brain seconds later, she found herself completely frozen to her spot with her subconscious vaguely noting that Brittany had turned around once again, leaving Santana there to stare through wide-eyes at nothing in particular.

After forcing her body to cooperate enough to see where Brittany had gone to, she managed to find her friend walking up to hand her plane ticket to a worker so she could know where to find her terminal. Once she had received the directions, the blonde threw one last glace back at the Latina and gave her a small wave before passing through the automatic double doors and disappearing into the large airport.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Alright, so that was Chapter 9. _

_I hope everyone enjoyed it despite the date having to be postponed._

_I know. __I'm sorry._

_Chapter 10 probably won't be up until next weekend, but I am pretty excited to get started on the next couple of chapters, so who knows?_

_Anyways, I'll see you all next time!_


	10. Señor Pato

It had been a long day of work without having Brittany as a distraction, and it had been an even longer three days without the blonde at all. The last Santana had heard from her was the small conversation they had after Brittany landed at LAX, which was before Brittany had gone to see her uncle in the hospital.

Santana could only imagine the state the girl was currently in, which was part of the reason why she had decided to refrain from texting her until she was ready to talk. Sure, she had sent a couple 'good night' texts to let Brittany know that she was thinking about her, but since none of them had received an answer, she never pushed for anything more. The last thing Santana wanted to do was make her feel pressured to talk or reach out to her. She knew that the girl would talk to her when she was ready if that was what she truly wanted. In the meantime, she would just have to give Brittany her space and hope that she was finding all the love and support she needed from the people around her.

Heaving a long sigh, she decided to stop focusing on the things she couldn't currently change and, instead, moved her thoughts back to her work.

The rest of the day passed just as slowly as the ones before. Even her lunch spent sitting alone in the office break room felt as if it lasted too long.

Thankfully, 5:00 PM eventually rolled around, and Santana was finally able to leave the office. As she moved toward the elevator, she pulled out her phone to find a text from a number she didn't recognize. Opening it up, she quickly started reading the message.

_To Santana: Hello, Santana. This is Patty, Brittany's coworker. I'm sorry for having to do this, but I need to ask you for a favor. I've been taking care of Brittany's cat, Lord Tubbington, while she has been away. Unfortunately, Gerry and I forgot that we were supposed to be leaving right after I get off work this afternoon so we could make it to my grandson's birthday party later this evening. I didn't know what to do, so I called Brittany and asked for your number. Is there any possible way you could run by her apartment tonight and feed him?_

_To Patricia: Hi, Patty. I would be more than happy to. I'm actually leaving work right now. Would it be okay for me to come up and get her key from you?_

_To Patricia: Oh, thank you so much. That would be perfect. See you in a minute._

Locking her phone, she shoved the device back into her purse and made her way out of the building and across the street.

* * *

Santana came walking through the front door of Brittany's apartment about an hour later.

Reaching into her purse, she dug out the list of instructions Patricia had given her on how to take care of Lord Tubbington. Opening up the folded up sheet of paper, she began reading the strangest feline care regiment she had ever seen.

_Instructions for Taking Care of LT:_

_1. Fill up food bowl as needed.  
2. Fill up water bowl as needed.  
3. Check litter box as needed.  
4. Please pet and give LT some attention if time permits.  
5. Please let LT watch some TV if time permits. (See list below for his favorite shows and times.)  
6. Check for hidden cigars under my bed.  
7. Check for hidden cigars under the sofa.  
8. Check for hidden cigars in between and under the sofa cushions.  
9. Check for hidden cigars in LT's litter box.  
10. Check for hidden cigars anywhere you think cigars may be hidden.  
__11. Ask LT if he is hiding any cigars in the apartment.  
__12. Look for any signs of him lying about hiding cigars if he says no. (See list below for ways to tell if he is lying.)  
__13. Lecture him on why cigars are bad for his health regardless of whether you actually find any cigars or not. (See feline health statistics and LT anti-smoking speech below if you don't know what to say.)_

_Thank you!  
-Brittany_

The list was then followed by everything the blonde had promised would be found after the conclusion of her instructions, and Santana couldn't help but smile at her friends's never ending cuteness.

Folding the piece of paper back up and shoving it into her front pocket, the accountant walked over the to kitchen where Patricia had told her Lord Tubbington's food and water bowls could be found. Filling them both up, she then made her way into the bathroom to check the litter box and was thankful to find it almost completely untouched.

She then took the list back out to check for a television show that would be on at that time while she made her way back to the living room. As soon as she stepped foot in the room, she noticed a large cat lounging on the couch. "So, you must be the famous Lord Tubbington," she assumed, walking over to give to give the oversized feline a scratch behind the ears. "Let's see what's on the tube, huh?"

Turning around, she found the remote sitting on an end table and picked it up before pressing the power button. As she sat down and started punching in the digits of the channel she had in mind, she spoke up again, "You know, you and I actually have similar taste in television shows, assuming that the ones listed on this sheet of paper are accurate."

Santana unsurprisingly received no response from the feline sitting on the opposite end of the couch. Despite this fact, she continued making comments about the current Law & Order episode, figuring that it could pass as giving the cat attention.

As soon as the episode was over, Santana turned her attention back over to Lord Tubbington, "Look, Tubbs. Is it alright if I call you Tubbs?" She paused briefly but continued when she received no signs of opposition, "Okay, so like I was saying, I'm really sorry to have to ask you this. I honestly wouldn't even be doing it if I wouldn't feel bad later on for not doing everything your mom said I was supposed to do, so can we just save ourselves a lot of time and cut to the chase by you telling me if you have any hidden cigars or not?"

Lord Tubbington looked over to the girl, giving her a disinterested look, which she quickly imagined to be him asking her if she was being serious, before laying his head back down. Santana had never felt more lame in the presence of a cat in her entire life, "Uh, thanks. Sorry again. Just, uh, just know that they are bad for you, and Brittany really hopes that you aren't smoking them. Anyways, I'll just shut up and let you get back to sleep now."

That was the last thing she said for the rest of her stay. After a couple more episodes, she finally decided that she better head home so she could get ready for work in the morning.

Turning off the television, she got up and made her way over to where Lord Tubbington was laying. Kneeling down, she started to gave him a few little pets, "I'm going to leave now, but I told Patty that I'd come by and take care of you in the morning since I have the only spare key right now so I'll see you then."

She then pushed herself back up and made her way out the apartment, locking the door behind her.

* * *

The next two days of work turned out to be even worse than the first. The days seemed to get even longer, which she hadn't previously thought to be possible, and she once again spent lunch alone in the break room with nothing but a measly peanut butter and jelly sandwich to keep her company.

There had still been no word from Brittany, which was causing the girl to start to worry. Every time those thoughts started to make themselves known, however, the Latina would work to push them away. She knew Brittany would be fine. She just had to give her time.

Walking into her apartment Wednesday evening, she threw her keys down on the coffee table and made her way into the kitchen to fix her something to eat.

For some reason, sitting in the empty dining room felt even lonelier than having lunch in the break room had, which only confused Santana since the blonde had barely spent any time at her apartment. In fact, Brittany had only been over a handful of times since the day she took care of a sick Santana. The accountant quickly realized that this train of thought was getting her nowhere, so she finally decided that she was just going to take a shower and go to bed.

About five hours later, Santana was sleeping in bed cuddled up to Mr. Bear when she was woken up by her phone ringing. Reaching out blindly, she eventually felt the device under her palm and picked it up. Without bothering to open her eyes to see who it was, she pressed the answer button.

"Hello," she asked groggily.

"Oh, no. Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, San. I can just call back later," said a quiet, timid voice.

Realizing that she was on the phone with the girl she had been waiting to talk to for days, Santana's eyes snapped open, "No, B! I'm up. I'm awake."

"I'm sorry. I completely forgot about us not being in the same time zone anymore. What time is it over there?" Brittany asked.

Looking over to the digital clock sitting on her bedside table, she saw that it was almost two in the morning, "Uh, not too late. We can talk."

"Santana, what time is it?" Brittany asked again with a serious tone.

"It's two o'clock."

That's when she heard Brittany's voice become a little frantic, "Oh my goodness! I can't believe I didn't think of the time difference. I probably woke you up. What am I talking about? Of course I woke you up! Oh gosh, and you have work in the morning! I'm going to let you get back to sleep now. Sorry for disturbing you."

"No, Britt. Seriously, it's okay. I'm just glad that you decided to finally call me. I was starting to get worried," Santana quickly spat out before the blonde could hang up the phone.

"I know. I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to act so distant. Being here has just made everything feel so real, and I guess I wasn't prepared for all that has happened since I've been back. I did get your texts, though, and I wanted to thank you for sending them. They really did mean a lot to me."

"It was no problem at all. I'm just glad that I could make you feel even just a little better."

"You did," Brittany confirmed.

The blonde continued to fill Santana in on everything that had happened since flying home. She had managed to make it there in time to see her uncle and was able to spend the following couple of days visiting him before he passed away. She also talked about how she had been having a hard time coping with the loss, especially since she had been trying to stay strong and help support the rest of her family to the best of her ability.

By the end of her recap, Brittany had been reduced to tears and said, "Tomorrow is his funeral, and I don't think I can go, San. It's all too hard."

Trying to find a way to comfort the blonde, Santana encouraged, "B, you are one of the absolute strongest people I have ever met. You can do anything. I know it'll be hard, but I'm sure your uncle would have liked for you to be there."

"But what if I'm not ready to say good-bye?" Brittany choked out.

"Then, you don't have to say good-bye, Britt. Just think of it as 'see you later.'"

A long moment of silence passed between the girls before Brittany spoke up again with a strained voice, "Has anyone ever told you that you're really smart? Like really, really smart?"

Santana gave a small shrug, though no one was there to actually see it, "Yeah, I might have heard it a time or two." Keeping the conversation light, the brunette looked down at the teddy bear lying curled up in her arm, "What was that, Mr. Bear? You want me to tell Brittany that you miss her and hope that she comes home soon?"

That seemed to get Brittany's voice to perk up a bit as she asked, "Is he there by you?"

"Yep, we're all cuddled up right now. You were right, by the way. He is a fantastic cuddler," Santana replied as she tightened her hold around the bear.

"Well, he did learn from the best."

"Oh? And who might that be?"

"Yours truly, of course!" Brittany exclaimed, causing both of them to laugh.

"Hm, I'm afraid I'm going to have to wait and see for myself before I can agree with you."

"Fine, suit yourself," Brittany concluded before adding, "By the way, can you tell him that I'll be flying home on Saturday?"

"You will?" Santana asked, her voice coming out a little more enthusiastically than intended.

"Yep, I sure will," Brittany confirmed, and Santana could almost hear the smile in her voice after hearing the brunette's reaction.

"Will you need me to give you a ride home from the airport?"

"Only if you wouldn't mind driving all the way back over there to come get me."

"I definitely wouldn't mind, B. Not at all."

"Well, then that would definitely be appreciated," Brittany responded. There was a comfortable silence that passed between the two before Brittany was speaking up again, "Hey, San, what's 'duck' in Spanish?"

"Pato. Why do you ask?" Santana inquired.

"Well, I've been calling the duck you gave me Mr. Duck since I've been here, but I thought saying it in Spanish would be even better, especially since he was a gift from you. Isn't that right, Señor Pato?" Brittany's voice sounded a little farther away from the phone, and Santana pictured the girl looking down as she talked to the stuffed duck, just as she had done with Mr. Bear.

Santana gave a few chuckles before the pair were met with another small silence.

"Hey, San," Brittany said, her voice getting a little softer.

"Yeah, Britt?"

"Thank you for staying up to talk with me and for allowing me to take my mind off everything, even if it was for just a little while."

"Anytime, Britt-Britt. I hope I was able to help you to feel a little better."

"Yeah," the blonde said with a yawn, "You've actually been doing that a lot for me lately."

"Well, I'm glad. Now, how about you get some sleep? You got a big day tomorrow."

"Okay, but do you think you could maybe stay on the phone until I fall asleep?"

"Yeah, I think I could do that."

"Awesome. Good night, San and Mr. Bear."

"Buenas noches, Britt-Britt y Señor Pato," Santana said, purposefully causing the blonde to giggle.

There was a quiet rustle of covers on the other side of the line as Brittany tried to get comfortable, and eventually, Santana noticed Brittany's breathing even out, which she took as her cue to follow the blonde into dreamland.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Yeah, I definitely did not expect to get this posted as quickly as I did, but I was pretty excited to get this chapter written so I just went for it._

_This should really be the last update until the end of the week. _

_I unfortunately have two major exams to study for, which will basically rule my life for the next six days._

_Sorry, everyone._

_Anyways, I hope to see you all next time!_


	11. Answers

It was late Saturday evening, and Santana was finally on her way to pick up Brittany from the airport. For one entire week, she had been given a glimpse into what her life was like before meeting the ad executive, and now all she could think about was how grateful she was that it was almost over.

Pulling into the familiar airport drop-off area, Santana began searching for her favorite blue-eyed blonde, but when she finally did, the sight she found almost broke her heart.

Brittany was standing there with her arms wrapped around Señor Pato, hugging him tightly to her chest, while all her luggage lay on the ground at her feet. The thing Santana found most unnerving about the woman's demeanor was the way she blankly stared out at the pavement in front of her without any hint of emotion. Just strong, focused eyes and a set jaw.

Acting on pure instinct, the Latina quickly moved to park as close as she could to the girl and threw her door open so she could make her way over to her friend. She maintained her hurried pace until she was about ten feet away from the girl, where she brought herself down to a slow walk. Not wanting to scare her, she tried to quietly make the blonde aware of her presence, "Britt?"

This seemed to snap the woman out of her daze as she brought her eyes up to meet deep brown. Realizing that the accountant was there, Brittany's composure immediately began to crumble. She hurriedly closed the distance between them and burrowed her face into Santana's shoulder without removing her arms from around the stuffed duck.

Santana brought her arms up to wrap around her the blonde as she pulled her into a comforting embrace. "Hey, it's okay, B. I'm here. I got you," Santana said soothingly as she slowly drug her hand up and down the blonde's back, trying to calm the girl crying into her shoulder. The pair stood there for a couple of minutes before she spoke up again, "Look, I'm sorry I have to do this, Britt, but I'm pretty sure that security guard has been watching us for the past few minutes and is about to come over to lecture about airport pick-up etiquette if we don't get out of here soon. How about we get all your bags in the car and head home?"

Brittany nodded slightly as she took a step back away from the girl and grabbed her luggage, but Santana quickly rushed over to take them from her, "Don't worry, I got these. Why don't you go ahead and have a seat in the car? I'm sure you had a long flight."

Brittany gave another nod and did as the brunette had suggested without a word.

Once the blonde's bags had been loaded, Santana slid back into the driver's seat and shifted the car into gear so she could take the blonde home. The drive was completely silent, and Santana was looking to find of a way to comfort her friend again. She really wanted to reach out and grab the other woman's hand, but she didn't know if that would make things better or worse so she decided to try to think of something else.

As if she had read the brunette's mind, Brittany placed her own hand over Santana's and began lightly prying her fingers between the other woman's palm and the gear shift. Taking it as a hint, Santana lifted her hand, allowing the blonde to lace their fingers and pull their joined hands into her lap, where she started absentmindedly tracing lazy patterns on the back of the Latina's forearm.

The drive back was long with very few words spoken, but they eventually found themselves in front of the blonde's apartment building. Santana offered to help carry the girl's luggage up, which Brittany agreed to. Once inside the apartment, Brittany told Santana to just set her things on the ground and led her into her small kitchen. Opening a nearby cabinet, she pulled out a box of hot chocolate mix and turned back to the Latina, quietly offering, "Would you like something to drink? I have some hot cocoa or tea-"

Santana quickly walked over to her, placing a hand on the small of her back, and eased the box from her hand, "Go relax, Britt. I'll bring you a cup once it's made, okay?"

The blonde thanked her and showed where she could find the coffee cups before heading back towards the living room. A few minutes later, Santana emerged with two mugs in her hand. Though she wasn't particularly thirsty, she figured that it would help Brittany feel a little more comfortable if she was sipping on a drink as well.

Suddenly noticing the Latina's presence, Brittany began furiously wiping at her eyes in an attempt to hide the fact that she had been crying. Santana saw right through it, however, and quickly made her way over to the girl as fast as she could without spilling so she could set the two coffee cups on the end table.

Kneeling down in front of the blonde, Santana gently grasped Brittany's hands and slowly brought them down to rest on her friend's lap, "B, it's okay to cry. This is a tough time for you."

Without meeting the brunette's eyes, Brittany mumbled, "I know, I'm sorry. It's just that I was able to hold it together so well while I was gone. Well, for the most part at least. I managed to stay detached and keep the tears at bay during and after the ceremony which made being there feel real and not real at the same time. It wasn't until I boarded the plane to fly back here that I finally had my first real breakdown and started to cry. I've been crying ever since, except when I got your text that you were almost at the airport. I somehow managed to suck it up and stop crying, but then you were there, and I lost my resolve. I was only able to stop again because I remembered that you were there and you always make me so, so happy, but my mind started to wonder again after I left you in the kitchen. I don't particularly like where it went."

After she was sure that Brittany had gotten everything she wanted to say out, Santana gave her hands a light squeeze and asked, "What do you need me to do, Britt-Britt?"

"Would you mind staying with me for a little while? At least until I fall asleep? I know Lord Tubbington is here, but he never has much to say, especially on matters like this."

"Yeah, B, of course I will. I'll stay for as long as you need me to."

"Are you sure? I know it's a Saturday night, and I'm sure you have something else that you'd rather be doing."

The accountant lightly shook her head, "No, the only thing I want to do tonight is sit here and hang out with the person I've been waiting a week to see. Now, how about you try out that hot chocolate and make sure it tastes alright. I'm a little out of practice in the hot cocoa making department."

For the first time since her return, Brittany broke out into a smile as she gave her friend a nod and turned to pick up her cup. Suddenly, her face transformed into an even more excited expression, "Oh, you got my favorite mug! How did you know?"

A little taken back by the blonde's reaction, Santana replied, "I didn't. I just grabbed the first two I saw."

"Oh, that would makes sense because I use it every time I make any kind of hot drink," Brittany said, giving a laugh before asking, " Is it okay if I have the hot chocolate in the frowning kitten one? That's always been my absolute favorite because no matter how down I am, it always makes me smile for some weird reason. Probably because of the absurdity of a kitten frowning, but I don't know."

Glad just to have Brittany finally smiling, Santana motioned towards the cup, saying, "Knock yourself out, Britt."

She watched as Brittany began excitedly clapping her hands and turned to grab the other mug so she could hand it over to Santana.

"Why thank you, ma'am," Santana said as she stood up and moved to sit on the couch, "By the way, Lord Tubbington and I basically became best friends while you were gone, so you better watch out."

"What? Both of my best friends stealing each other from me? The nerve!" Brittany exclaimed jokingly.

As if on cue, the cat in question came walking into the room looking as if he had just woken up from a nap and walked over to the two women.

"Oh, hey Tubbs. Did your mom's yelling wake you up, Buddy?" Santana asked, sending Brittany a small wink before leaning down to give him a scratch behind the ears, which he gladly accepted.

"Wait, he lets you call him Tubbs?" Brittany asked, starting wide eyed at the Latina before snapping her eyes over to the feline, "What the heck, Lord Tubbington? You don't even let me call you that!"

Santana quickly looked down at the cat, who had just jumped up on the couch and curled up between them, "Oh, I didn't know he didn't like it. I could go back to saying his full name. It's not a big deal."

"No, he'd be acting super grumpy if he didn't like you calling him that. Trust me. I know," Brittany said reassuringly. Noticing the questioning look on her friend's face, she explained, "There was this one time, only once because I never dared to try it again, when he didn't talk to me for a whole week because I called him that. The only way to get him to stop ignoring me was to promise that I would never call him that again."

"Lord Tubbington! That's no way to treat your mother. Apologize," Santana said, mocking the way the blonde had treated her when she had told her own mother to shut up at lunch.

Picking up on the reference, Brittany gave Santana a slap on the arm, "Hey, don't make what I said into a joke. I was being serious when I told you that."

Santana started laughing at the girl's reaction, "I know. I just couldn't resist. Anyways, is there anything else you'd like me to do? I could go pick up some food, put on a movie. Anything you want."

"Ordering out actually sounds really, really good right now, but do you think we could maybe just sit and talk? I want to hear about your week."

Wanting to please the girl, the accountant responded, "Alright, I'm not sure how entertaining it will be, but we can try. Are you in the mood to eat anything in particular?"

"Surprise me," Brittany said with a grin.

"Okay, but you asked for it," Santana joked back, getting up to go place their order in the secrecy of the kitchen. After hanging up, she walked back into the living room and informed the blonde that their food would be there in about fifteen minutes.

"So, what would you like to know?" Santana said as she took her seat before she thought of another idea, "Oh, wait! It's been a while since we've asked one another questions."

Brittany's eyes immediately widened with excitement, "Yeah! Let's do that!"

"Great. Well, I do believe it's your day so-"

"Actually, San, it's your day," Brittany cut in.

"Well, how about we share for today?" the brunette suggested.

Brittany gave her a quick nod, "I think I could deal with that, but only if you start."

"Alright. Oh, I got it! I thought of this while you were gone. Number one: where did you get Mr. Bear?"

The blonde immediately began to smile, "My dad gave him to me for Valentine's Day when I was about three, and he's been with me ever since. Number two: what was the funnest thing you did while I was gone?"

The first answer that popped into Santana's mind was a simple 'nothing,' because it was true, but she didn't want Brittany thinking she was a pathetic, love-sick puppy while she was away so she fought to find something that could be considered as fun and blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "I went and fed the ducks." As soon as Santana said it, she cringed, knowing that Brittany knew she only went to the duck pond when the blonde was around. _'I really am pathetic,' _she thought to herself before hearing Brittany speak up.

"I knew you'd eventually start going on your own! Was it as awesome as when we go?"

Trying to play it off, Santana replied, "It wasn't completely awful, but I know it would have been a million times better if you had been there. Number three: what's your favorite color?"

Brittany's eyebrows instantly scrunched up in confusion, "San, you know I don't have one."

"Yeah, but you do that color of the week thing sometimes, so I was wondering if there was one for this week."

The blonde brought her hand up to her chin to add to the effect that she was thinking hard about how she wanted to answer, "If I had to choose, it would probably be yellow like Señor Pato since he's probably one of my favorite things about this week."

"Oh, really?"

"Really, really."

Santana was going to ask the girl to elaborate on her answer but was cut off by a knock on the door. Getting up, she dashed over to her purse to grab her wallet before heading toward the source of the knocking. Once she was there, she threw open the door to find a scrawny pizza boy standing there.

"Hi, I have two pizzas here for, uh," he started before he glanced down to check the name on the order, "Santana Lopez?"

"Yep, that'd be me," Santana quickly said. Not wanting to waste too much time away from the blonde, she grabbed the first bill she saw that was guaranteed to pay for the entire order and shoved it into his hand, "Alright, here you go. Keep the change."

While he tried to get a firm grip on her payment, she snagged the boxes from his hand and attempted to close the door. Her efforts were halted, however, when the pizza boy threw his hand up and forced the door back open, "Ms. Lopez, I think there was a mistake. Your order was only $16.48."

Getting a little aggravated, Santana responded, "Yeah, so?"

The Latina's shift in mood apparently had the desired effect on the boy as he rushed to stutter out, "So, you, uh, you handed me a f-f-fifty, m-ma'am."

"Yeah, well, I guess it's your lucky day then, isn't it? Good night, kid. Enjoy the tip," she said as she closed the door in his face. Turning back around, she found Brittany staring at her wide-eyed, "What? What did I do?"

"Nothing, that was just really nice of you, San," Brittany said as she gave Santana a smile.

Santana shrugged her shoulders to make it seem like a nonchalant ordeal, "He was starting to cut into the first Britt-Britt time I've had in a week, but I also knew you'd get mad if I just acted rude to him so I made sure he wouldn't leave unhappy."

"Well despite your methods needing a little work, I really appreciate you doing that. See? And you think you're this big, mean baddie when you're really just this huge softy."

"Woah, hold on there, Britt. Don't twist this into something it's not. I was just trying to shut him up without you shutting me up in the process. We all won here. Simple as that."

"Yeah, sure. We'll just go with that excuse so we can protect your precious badass reputation," Brittany replied, not buying the accountant's explanation one bit. She then sent the girl a wink, "You don't have to worry, San. I won't tell anyone about your secret soft side."

Santana gave the girl an eye-roll, "Whatever, Britt. Anyways, are you ready to eat or what?"

"Yes! I'm starving! What toppings did you get?"

Sending the girl a cheeky smile, Santana asked, "Is that the fourth question?"

"Sure, why not?" Brittany answered, trying to rush along the process so she could get to the part where she would be able to eat.

"Alright, well we got a pepperoni right here. Pretty standard," Santana said as she revealed the contents of the first box. After closing and sliding it other the second one, she opened the other box, "And here we have a Hawaiian pizza."

"Oh my gosh, San! That's my favorite! How did you know?"

"I'll give you that question since the other one was a little unfair. It was honestly just a lucky guess. I figured that if there was only one type of pizza in the world that you liked, it would absolutely have to be this one."

"Wow, Ms. Lopez. I'm impressed. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been spying on me."

"Nope, I've just been sending you deep, personal questions through your office window for the past few months. Nothing creepy about that, right?"

"Well, I used to not think so, but now that you put it that way," Brittany drug out, insinuating that she was kind of weirded out by the thought, before the pair busted out in laughter.

The girls proceeded to started eating their dinner as they made their way through the next several questions. Eventually, they got full, and Brittany was suddenly overcome by exhaustion. Deciding that it was time to get ready for bed, Brittany looked over to her friend, "Hey, I think I'm going to go change out of these jeans. Would you like something more comfortable to put on, too. Maybe some sweatpants or something?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

"Okay, well then come on," Brittany said, pulling Santana up with her.

"Wait, I'm coming with you?" Santana nervously sputtered out as she refused to willfully follow the blonde.

Brittany rolled her eyes at the brunette, "Calm down, we're just getting you a change of clothes. I'll even change in the bathroom if it'll make you feel better."

"O-okay, if you say so."

"I do, now let's go before I change my mind."

Before Santana could ask Brittany about her intentions behind her last statement, she was being pulled forward once more towards the uncharted territory that was Brittany's bedroom. As she got acquainted with the space, Brittany walked over and started digging through her drawers to find something for them to wear.

"Hey, how is this?" Brittany asked, holding up an oversized t-shirt and a pair of baggy sweatpants.

"Yeah, that's great. Thanks."

"Are you sure? Because I also have these if you want," the blonde said, holding up a pair of short shorts and an extra small tank top.

Santana instantly felt her face heat up, "N-no, I'm fine with the first option."

"I'm just joking, San," Brittany said with a laugh, but just as Santana started to heave a sigh of relief, Brittany continued, "These are actually my pajamas."

If Santana wasn't red before, she sure was now. Not only that, but she was also pretty sure that her jaw had somehow came unhinged after it had dropped down out of shock.

That's when she heard her friend laughing even harder than before, "Oh my goodness, San! I wish you could see the look on your face right now! Could you imagine if I were to actually do this to you? You'd probably pass out or something." Brittany quickly spun around to trade out the clothes in her hand for another t-shirt and pair of sweatpants and turned back to find her friend exactly how she had left her, "Seriously, you can snap out of it, S. I was just kidding."

Santana blinked her eyes a few times before she was able to finally became responsive again, "I-I, uh, what?"

"Nevermind. Anyways, I'm going to go," the blonde said as she hooked her thumb behind her to gesture towards the bathroom, "I'll be back in a flash, so you might want to hurry up."

"Britt!"

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll knock," Brittany paused before quickly adding, "if I remember."

"Brittany Pierce! Just go change, please. Oh, and do not forget to knock."

"Alright, but try to rush through it just in case," Brittany said, leaving without another word.

Less than ten minutes later, the girls found themselves laying on the ad executive's bed, staring up at the ceiling from their own side of the matress as they continued their game of 20 Questions from earlier that night.

"Number thirteen: if Señor Pato could have any job in the world, what would his dream job would be?" Santana meant for it to be a silly question, but when Brittany didn't answer right away, she glanced over to find a thoughtful expression on her friend's face.

"Oh! I know," Brittany finally said after a minute or so. "I think he'd probably work at a theme park somewhere, like Disneyland or something."

"What makes you think that?

"I don't know, there's just something about him. Number fourteen: what do you think Mr. Bear's dream job is?"

Santana's eyes suddenly widened as she shot up from where she had been laying on the bed, "Oh, shoot! I can't believe that I just now remembered that I forgot to bring him. I'm sorry, Britt. I swear I'll bring him to work on Monday."

Rolling over a little, Brittany placed a calm hand on her arm and tried to get Santana to lay back down, "It's okay, really. Actually, why don't you hold onto him for a little while? You two seem to get along really well, and I'm sure he loves getting to cuddle up with you every night."

"I don't know, B. Apparently, I'm lying in bed with the expert cuddler he's been cuddling with for years. I'm not sure how I could possibly compare to that."

"Well, I guess I might have to see where you are in your cuddle training, and we can just work our way from there."

Feeling her heart rate begin to race at the prospect of snuggling up to Brittany, she decided to rush along to the next topic, "Number f-fifteen: what's-"

"Uh, San?" Brittany interrupted.

"Yeah, B?"

"You didn't answer."

"What?"

"You never answered question fourteen."

Finally catching on, Santana back-peddled a bit and said the first career that popped into her mind, "Chemist."

"A chemist?"

Finally finding her bearings, Santana responded, "Yep, he is a very intelligent teddy bear who got all his smarts from his Momma Bear." She then punctuated the remark by shooting a smiling glance over to the girl beside her who was wearing a curious expression.

Realizing that Santana had been referring to her, Brittany's face cracked out into a broad smile, "You think?"

"No, I know," Santana responded, knowing that they weren't talking about Mr. Bear anymore, "Next question. Number fifteen: what is Lord Tubbington's favorite hobby?"

Santana watched as Brittany leaned up slightly, checking to make sure he was asleep at the foot of her bed before laying back down. "Okay, you have to promise you won't tell him I told you this," Brittany quietly whispered, jutting out her pinky finger from under the covers. After Santana had returned the pinky promise, she continued, "Well, Lord T is really big into crocheting." Noticing that Santana was caught off-guard by her answer, she explained, "I know what you're thinking: how could he possibly crochet without thumbs? I have no idea how he does it, but he's amazing. Oh, and you also might be wondering why he would be interested in doing something like that considering the fact that he has such a rough background filled with drugs, gangs, and violence. Again, I don't have a solid answer, but I think it's a coping mechanism to help him get his mind off of the things he has seen in his life," Brittany paused a moment to think before adding, "or he just really appreciates handmade crafts. Either one. Number sixteen: does you making all those paper airplanes make you a unicorn?" Brittany asked.

Santana shot a timid smile up towards the ceiling as she said, "Only if you're a narwhal."

The blonde's smile grew, "Well, I guess you're a unicorn then."

"Number seventeen: since you're a narwhal, did you get the message I sent you?" Santana nervously asked, referencing Brittany's story before adding, "I know I said pretty quick and then kind of freaked out, but I've been wondering if you ever actually heard what I said."

After a short moment of silence, Brittany rolled to lay on her side with her arm propping her up slightly, "Well, I was actually hoping I could get some clarification using question eighteen if that's okay."

"Alright, Britt," she responded as she prepared herself for what she knew must be coming.

"Okay, number eighteen: what did you say that night at the train station?"

"I, uh, I said-" Santana fought to force the words out. Deciding that she was not going to let this chance pass her by, she gritted her teeth and told the blonde, "I said I love you, Britt."

Allowing her mildly shocked expression transform into a small smile, Brittany responded, "Okay, I was pretty sure but not so sure at the same time, so I just wanted to confirm it once and for all."

Not being able to get a clear read on Brittany's reaction to the admission, Santana asked, "Number nineteen: are you okay with knowing that?" Santana was caught by surprise when her question to be met with another one.

"Number twenty: you know I feel the same way, don't you?" Before Santana could even get a word out, however, Brittany was leaning down to press a quick, chaste kiss on the girl's lips. Pulling away, the blonde rolled onto her back to look up at the ceiling once more, "Oh, and in case you were still wondering: yes, your narwhal got her message."

Santana looked over at her in a complete daze, "_My_ narwhal?"

"Yep, _your _narwhal," Brittany confirmed with a shy smile as she rolled over again to face away from the Latina, "Good night, San."

"G-good night, Britt."

* * *

Within thirty minutes, Brittany's breathing had evened out, signaling to the brunette that her promise had been fulfilled. Despite everything that had happened that evening, she still didn't exactly know what Brittany wanted her to do. She had only asked her to stay until she had fallen asleep, but what did she want Santana to do now that she was lost in a deep slumber?

The Latina was at a loss of whether or not she was supposed to stay or go, so she decided to take the middle option. Sliding out of bed, Santana made her way around to the other side, gently tugging the comforter up around the blonde and lightly tucked her in without waking her.

Noticing Lord Tubbington on the foot of the bed, she knelt down in front of him, whispering as quietly as she could, "Hey, Tubbs. Stay here with, B, okay?"

Taking him curling back into a ball as a sign that he would stay where he was, she ran her hand over his soft fur a couple of times and made her way out of the room, leaving the door slightly open just in case Lord Tubbington had to get out in the middle of the night.

The accountant then proceeded to make her way into the living room where she gathered a small throw pillow and blanket to make a makeshift bed on Brittany's couch and fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

She didn't know how much time had passed since she had dozed off when she was suddenly is woken up by Lord Tubbington's cold nose sniffing at her limp arm that was hanging off the couch. Not even bothering to dig her face out of the pillow, Santana waved him off, mumbling, "Tubbs, go back to sleep with Britt. She needs you to stay in there with her."

That's when she heard a sleep-filled voice call out from the other side of the room, "San, why are you on the couch?"

Snapping her eyes open and turning her head to face the direction of where the voice had come from, Santana found the blonde standing by the hallway leading from her bedroom, lazily rubbing at her eyes.

Not fully being awake yet, the brunette tried her best to think back to how she even ended up on the blonde's couch, let alone in her apartment. After recalling the night's previous events, she replied, "I didn't know what you wanted me to do, so I thought I would just play it safe and just come in here."

Brittany's eyes instantly started watering, clearly showing that she was also still half-asleep, "I thought you left."

"Aw, I'm sorry," Santana groggily said, pushing herself up off the couch and walking over to the blonde. Placing her arms around Brittany's waist, she pulled the girl into a tight embrace and continued, "I wouldn't just leave you, Britt-Britt."

"Well, can you come back to bed then? I don't think I'll be able to get back to sleep without you," Brittany said as she returned the hug, burying her face into the crook of Santana's neck.

Lightly stroking the girl's back with her hand, Santana responded, "Yeah, of course, B. Come on, let's go."

After they had released one another, Brittany took Santana by the hand and led her back towards her bedroom.

Laying back down on the bed, Brittany moved all the way across to the other side of the mattress as she brought her arm around Santana's midsection and snuggled into her side.

Not wanting their conversation in the living room to be their last exchange of words for the night, Santana spoke up, saying, "Looks like you are right again, Britt-Britt."

"What do you mean?" Brittany said as she look up from where her head rested just above the girl's shoulder.

"No offense to Mr. Bear or anything, but you are pretty much the Queen of Cuddling," Santana said, tightening her hold around the girl's waist.

Brittany returned the gesture, responding, "I don't know, San. You're not so bad yourself. Maybe you're the one who should have that title."

Santana shrugs, "I wouldn't mind sharing if you don't."

"Nope, I definitely wouldn't."

"Hey, Britt?"

"Yeah, San?"

"Are you free next Friday?"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Alright, well there is a lot that happened in this chapter. _

_Definitely a lot more than I had planned for when I started writing it yesterday morning, but that's okay. _

_I eventually got it done._

_Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter._

_See you all next time!_


	12. Date Night

Everything was set and ready to go. Dinner reservations had been remade, flowers had been picked-up, and Santana was determined to not let anything else get in the way of her date night with Brittany.

After lightly rapping her knuckles on the blonde's front door, she quietly waited for the blonde to come answer it.

When the door finally swung open a couple minutes later, she found a disheveled-looking Brittany who seemed to be a little short of breath, "Sorry it took me so long. The presentation ran over, causing me to run late. Now, you're here, and I'm not even close to being ready-"

Sensing that the other woman was about to work herself into a frenzy, Santana cut her off, "Britt, calm down. I made the reservations for a little later just in case this happened. I know today was a long day for you so don't even worry about it. Take your time."

Visibly relaxing, Brittany gave her a warm smile, "Thanks, San. You're the best."

Noticing the girl motioning her inside, Santana proceeded to step into the small apartment, "Yeah, well I try. So, how did the presentation go? Aside from it taking a little longer than expected, of course."

"It actually went extremely well. They really seemed to like it."

"That's great, B. I guess it's a good thing we are already going out. Now, we can also celebrate your project's success."

"Actually, I'd rather just focus on us tonight, if that's okay," Brittany shyly suggested.

"Yeah, we can definitely do that. These are for you, by the way," Santana said, holding out the flowers.

"Aw, San. They're beautiful," Brittany said as she took them into her hand. After leaning in to smell them, she looked back up and said a quiet, "Thank you."

Santana's smile grew at seeing Brittany's positive reaction, "You're welcome. I remembered you saying that you had a tie between orchids and lilies as your favorites way back when. You know, playing that 20 Questions game really pays off sometimes."

"Yeah, I guess it does," she said, giving the flowers one last look before telling the brunette, "Okay, I have to go get dressed before we actually are late. I'm sorry, San, but I need to ask you for the hugest favor ever. Would you mind putting these in some water for me?"

"Sure, Britt-Britt. Do you have a vase?" Santana asked, taking the flowers back from her date.

"Yeah, there's one on the top shelf of the same cabinet I keep the coffee cups in. Thanks, San," Brittany said as she gave the Latina a peck on the cheek and dashed off toward her room.

"Oh, and Britt," Santana yelled out just as Brittany ducked into her room.

"Yeah?" the blonde asked, popping her head back out from behind the door frame.

"Remember that you don't have to get super dressed up. You've already had a long enough day. There's no need for our date to make it feel even longer by you having to wear an uncomfortable dress or something like that. There might also be a little bit of walking later, so feel free to leave the heels at home," Santana said with a wink.

"Alright, got it. Be back in a jiff," and with that, she was gone again.

Heading into the kitchen, the accountant quickly retrieved the vase and filled it with some water before sliding the flowers inside.

Santana had just finished placing them on top of the Brittany's counter when she heard the blonde fearfully cry out, "Ah! Oh my gosh! San, please come here! Please!"

Afraid that something bad had happened, Santana sprinted toward the doorway leading back to the girl's room. She had almost made it when her hip caught the corner of the countertop, sending her tumbling towards the ground.

"Ow! Shit!" she hissed out as she clutched at her tender hip. With a strained huff, she tried to sit up but quickly fell back down as a sharp pain shot through her body. "You've got to be freaking kidding me," she muttered to herself as she clenched her eyes shut a little harder.

She had completely forgotten about Brittany calling for her until the woman came running into the room, "I heard a loud thump and then shouting. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just hit my hip on the the counter. I'll be okay. Just give me a minute."

"Here, let me go get you some ice for that, San," she said as she leapt over the brunette and darted over to the refrigerator.

When she returned, Santana had managed to push herself up a little and was staring off at the far wall with pain stricken eyes. Brittany instantly knelt down and placed the bag of ice on the girl's hip.

"Do you think you're okay to move to the couch?" she asked as she motioned for Santana to hold the bag of ice.

"Yeah, I think so. Just let me-"

Just as she went to push herself up, Brittany slipped her arms around the brunettes back and under her knees before lifting her up bridal style.

"Oh my God! Britt, stop! I'm going to make you throw out your back or something!"

Brittany started laughing as if that is the most absurd thing that she had ever heard, "San, you weigh barely anything at all. I used to lift dogs twice as heavy as you when I volunteered at an animal shelter back home. Trust me, you got nothing to worry about."

As soon as she set Santana down, the brunette looked up at her, "You used to work at an animal shelter?"

"No, I used to _volunteer_ at an animal shelter," she emphasized with a hint of sarcasm. "But yeah, it was the only no-kill shelter in the area, and I felt that I should do something to help them out after hearing about the wonderful things they were doing for all the local homeless animals."

"Wow, you really are just too good to be true," Santana mumbled absentmindedly.

Brittany just shrugs nonchalantly and turned her attention back to Santana's hip, "Are you sure you're okay, San? We can reschedule if you need-"

"No!" Santana said in a louder voice than she had intended. Realizing that her reaction could have been taken the wrong way, she started to form an apology, "I'm sorry. It's just that I have been waiting a long time for tonight, and I'd rather not prolong it any longer if I don't have to. That is, unless you're having second-thoughts."

The blonde looked at her in complete shock, "No, of course not! I just don't want to make you walk around if you're hurt."

"I'll be fine. It's nothing I can't handle. By the way, what were you yelling about?"

Brittany's eyes widened in panic as she was reminded of what she had previously seen, "Oh, San! There's a spider in my room, and I'm absolutely terrified of them. If I just leave it in there, though, it's going to crawl somewhere where I can't find it and come back to eat me while I'm asleep."

"Britt, no matter how big this thing is, I don't think it will be able to eat you, but I'll go ahead and take care of it so you won't have to worry about it later," she said as she moved to remove one of her flats.

"Wait, why are you taking off your shoe?" Brittany said before she could get very far.

"So I can kill it, of course."

Brittany seemed to visibly deflate upon hearing these words as she began nervously rubbing her hands together, "Actually, I was wondering if you could omit the killing part."

"Okay, what would you like me to do with it then?"

"Could you maybe use a piece of paper or something to put it outside? I'd feel bad if you killed him. For all we know, he has a family that he needs to provide for, and I would feel terrible having not only his life but the lives of his poor starving little arachnid family on my conscious."

The first thought in Santana's mind was a flat out _'hell no,'_ namely because she didn't particularly like spiders either. If Maribel were around, she would have called her daughter a full-fledged arachnophobic sissy and talk about how the girl used to wake her out of a dead sleep well into her late-teens to ask her to go kill one of those _'eight-legged creatures sent straight up from the pits of hell,'_ which she would then mention was a direct quote from said daughter.

Determined to not let Brittany see her sweat, Santana forced herself to calmly respond, "Alright, I can do that. I just need to find a piece of paper so we can get him out of your way."

"Okay, this should do," Brittany said as she snagged her utility bill from off the end table and unfolded it to its full size.

A few minutes - and expletives - later, the spider had been safely returned to the wild, and the ad executive was able to return once more to getting ready.

"Seriously, San. You could have just told me you were also afraid of spiders. It's not like I could have judged you for it or anything," Brittany called out from the other room.

"Look, I had it all under control until the damn thing started crawling right towards me. What if he would have been one of those jumping spiders?"

"Well, then at least you would have known that he wasn't poisonous," the blonde said as she walked back into the room changed and ready to go.

"Yeah, definitely not helping, Britt. You look very beautiful, by the way," Santana said as she got a good look at her date.

"Thank you," Brittany said sweetly as she bashfully smoothed out the front of her sundress. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep, let's get out of here," the accountant replied, motioning her head toward the door.

* * *

Dinner was passing by without a hitch. Santana had chosen a small, authentic Italian restaurant that was classy without being over the top and had a nice, relaxed atmosphere. It also wasn't too loud or crowded, which made it easy to carry on a conversation.

The only problem was that she was too afraid that she was going to do or say the wrong thing to even say anything at all. In her mind, the pressure weighing on the success of this date was going to make or break her prospects of getting another date with the blonde, which was something she wanted dearly.

Brittany was aware of the change in the other girl's demeanor, but she had decided to give the accountant sometime before she finally spoke up, "Okay, what's wrong, Santana?"

"What do you mean?"

"San, you have barely spoken since we got here. Yes, you have been perfectly responsive and have genuinely listened to what I have been saying, but you also aren't really adding anything to the conversation like you normally would so what's the matter?"

Letting her head drop in defeat, the brunette heaved a sigh, "I'm sorry, B. I'm just so nervous about making this date perfect that I guess I let it sidetrack me from actively participating."

"San, we go on lunch dates almost every day. Why are you nervous?"

"Because they're not the same," Santana said as if it were obvious.

Brittany gave a curious look before replying, "Well, I've never thought of it as anything different."

"You haven't?"

The blonde shook her head, "Not since we've gotten closer. Somewhere along the way, I saw a change in how we spent our lunchtimes together, and I just started considering them dates. I mean, I'm spending time with you and one of us always ends up paying for the entire meal, so if you look at it that way, we've actually been inadvertently dating for quite some time now." Brittany reached out over the table, requesting to hold the other woman's hand. Once it was securely held within the confines of her own, she added, "Honestly, this is the same exact concept. We're just referring to it by a different name. Above all else, though, this is just another meal with me and you. Nothing has changed as far as that is concerned."Brittany gave her hand one last squeeze before releasing it so they could return to their meals.

"Well, I can't argue with you there," Santana said as she continued to relax. "I'm sorry, B. I wish I could pick up on things the way that you do, but you know as well as anyone that I'm not exactly the most observant person in the world."

"Says the girl who thought I wanted her to go sleep on the couch after I confessed my feelings for her," Brittany said with a huge grin on her face.

The accountant gave a look that was somewhere between offended and wanting to laugh, "Hey, that's not fair. You never know. Some people like to go slow."

"Says the slowest of them all," Brittany teased again.

Santana just playfully rolled her eyes, "Look, I just don't want to overstep any boundaries that would make you think that we were moving too fast."

"It's only too fast if you let it be, San."

"Yeah, it sounds easy when you say it like that, but-"

"But it sounds even easier when you believe it, which I do," Brittany said, cutting off the brunette and giving her a broad smiled that the other woman soon returned.

* * *

The rest of dinner proceeded with a normal flow of conversation and laughter that was usually shared by the two. After paying for the meal, Santana helped Brittany out of the booth and guided her out and down the street towards the blonde's apartment. Along the way, they swung into an ice cream shop to grab desert.

"Hm, what flavor are you getting?" Santana said as she continued to look at all the different selections.

"I think I'm going to go with mint chocolate chip. It is the ideal date ice cream flavor, after all."

Santana gave her an inquiring look, "Why do you say that?"

"Because you don't have to worry about fresh breath after you're done."

Santana blushed at the thought of what the blonde might be insinuating but quickly brushed it off when the blonde made no hint at suggesting anything more than simply wanting minty fresh breath. Regardless, she also decided to have a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone just in case.

Luckily, both girls had decided to go with cones, which allowed Santana to eventually build up the courage to reach over and tap the inside of the girl's hand to let her know that she wanted to hold it. Without looking, Brittany reached over so she could wiggle her fingers through the Latina's, effectively lacing them together.

They eventually found their way back in front of Brittany's apartment building but still weren't quite ready to part ways.

Hoping to stretch the conversation out a little further, Santana told the blonde, "I hope tonight wasn't too uneventful. You and I have always had a fairly simplistic relationship, so I thought it would be weird to suddenly go all out for something and make it a big, extravagant thing, even if it was a first date."

"Actually, it is probably about our hundredth date, so you have absolutely nothing to worry about," Brittany said with a wink.

"Oh yeah, can't forget about all those dang lunch dates we've had," Santana said jokingly, causing them both to break out into laughter.

Catching the other's eyes, the pair continued to stare at one another for a moment before Santana found herself licking her lips and leaning in, but Brittany quickly threw her hand in front of her mouth. "Sorry, San. I don't kiss on the first date. Rules are rules," she said playfully.

Santana stared at her in shock, "But you already-you and I, we-"

"That was an exception to the rule. I was clearly caught up in the moment and lost all control of my body. Not my fault."

"What about all the other dates?"

Brittany gave a shrug, "I meant first 'real' date, as you like to put it."

"Fine, then I guess I'll just have to let you and your damn rules ante up next time," Santana said sarcastically, followed by a little wink to show that she was joking. The girls exchanged a couple laughs before Santana stood up on the tips of her toes, using Brittany's shoulders as leverage, to give the blonde a peck on the cheek.

As soon as her heels touched back down to the ground, she took a step back to put a respectful distance between them. Santana gave the blonde a shy smile and quietly whispered out, "Thank you for allowing me to take you out tonight."

The blonde had the goofiest smile on her face as she whispered back, "I had a lot of fun. Hopefully we can do it again sometime. Outside of normal lunch dates, of course."

"Yeah, I'd really like that. Actually, I'd really, really like that."

"Good, well then it's a date."

"It's a date," the Latina confirmed with a slight nod.

"Good night, San."

"Good night, Britt-Britt," Santana said as she turned to walk away.

She hadn't made it ten steps, however, before a hand catches her arm, effectively turning her around, "I think I could make an exception to the rule just one more time," the blonde says as she takes a step closer, "but only because it's you."

The next thing she knew, Brittany was claiming her lips with her own, taking her in for a much deeper kiss than the first one they had shared. A few seconds later, the two girls parted to get some air.

Breathlessly, Santana asked, "You knew you were going to do that, didn't you?"

Brittany gave another shrug, "Maybe. I mean, you do know how much I _love_ the element of surprise."

"Yeah? Well, _maybe_ you're a jerk. Oh, and _maybe_ I'll never have the confidence to kiss you again either. Did you ever think of that, Smarty Pants?" Santana challenged while trying to hold back a smile.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that I have absolutely no problem with initiating a kiss with you, then."

The girls stood there for a moment longer before Brittany quietly whispered, "Text me when you get home, San," and gave her one last peck on the lips.

"Okay, Britt. Will do."

After a quick exchange of good-byes, they each turned to go their own way. Walking towards her apartment, Santana felt a small smile form on her face as she brought a hand up to her lips and had to force herself to not start skipping away.

_'Best. Night. Ever.'_

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_There we have it. The chapter many of you have have been waiting for. _

_I hope it didn't disappoint._

_I am also proud to say that this was my last planned chapter when I first started this story._

_It was going to be the fifth and final chapter. (Yes, only five.)_

_Obviously that is far from the truth now, and we still have plenty of chapters to go._

_Again, thank you all so much again for your support, and I hope to see you all back next chapter!_


	13. Clarification

"What the heck is 'narwhal' supposed to mean, Britt?" Santana mumbled to herself as she stared absentmindedly at the account she was supposed to be working on. That one word was all she could think about lately. It had been a month and a half of dating Brittany, and she still didn't know where exactly they stood. Were they official? Were they still just testing the waters? She honestly didn't know.

It wasn't like she was letting that ruin her time with Brittany, however. It was actually quite the opposite. The Latina was loving every minute spent with the blonde and found herself wanting to try even harder to prove to her that she'd be worth an attempt at a relationship, though whether she actually believed that or not had still yet to be determined.

Santana suddenly looked up to her desk clock to find that is was almost time to get off and quickly decided to return to her work so she could leave on time. As soon as five o'clock rolled around, the accountant began gathering her things and made a dash for the elevator. She came walking out of the building a few minutes later to be met by a familiar voice, "Ah, there she is."

Glancing over to where the sound had come from, Santana found her favorite pair of blue eyes as Brittany made her way over to where she stood, quickly giving her a peck on the forehead and pulling her into a warm embrace, "Hello, Beautiful. How was your day?"

Santana laughed at the question as she pulled out of the girls arms to look up at her, "Britt, I've been talking to you all day. You already know how it went."

"Yeah, but I want to know how work went since we never really talk about that."

"It was good. Nothing too out of the ordinary. What about you?"

"Same," Brittany said, reaching for Santana's hand, "Ready to go?"

"Yep, lead the way," Santana answered as she allowed the blonde to pull her towards the train station.

Upon walking into the train car, they found two empty seats so they could sit next to one another. The plan for the evening was to spend some alone time together at the ad executive's apartment while unwinding after a long week, which both girls were equally excited for.

"Hey, do you like video games?" Brittany asked just as the train started to move.

Santana was a little thrown off by the question but answered nonetheless, "I mean, it's been a little while, but yeah, they're pretty fun."

"Would you like to play some when we get to my place? I forgot that I had packed a bunch of my old consoles when I moved out here and found my old Super Nintendo the other day. I have been playing nonstop ever since."

"Okay, but I have to warn you. I don't think I'll be very good."

"Don't worry. I'm not all that great either. I haven't played it in years, but now I'm addicted."

"Well, then count me in."

* * *

Making their way into the blonde's apartment, Brittany informed the brunette, "Hey, I'm going to go change into something more comfortable. I can grab you something, too, while I'm in there if you want."

"That would be perfect. Thank you. Oh, and Britt," the brunette called out just as Brittany turned to walk away.

Brittany quickly spun back around, "Yeah, San?"

"I don't find those skimpy short shorts you keep trying to get me to wear comfortable at all, so you might as well just leave them in the drawer," Santana announced with a smirk.

Brittany's face was overcome by a look of defeat, "Dang it. How did you know?"

"I'm secretly psychic," Santana replied with a shrug.

This caused Brittany's eyes to widen in shock as the tips of her ears and cheeks began to redden, "Oh, crap! I am so sorry for staring at your butt the other day, San. I didn't mean to."

"You what?" Santana asked, once again thrown off by Brittany's unceasing honesty.

"Please don't be mad. It was just suddenly there, and my eyes developed a mind of their own."

Santana scrunched her eyes in confusion, "B, I was just joking about being psychic."

"You were?" the blonde asked before slapping a hand over her eyes in exasperation, "Crap."

"You know, I find it interesting that you blamed it on your eyes. I guess that means you had absolutely no interest in the matter, right?" Santana questioned with a knowing smirk.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Brittany answered as a goofy grin spread across her face.

"Okay, Creepy. How about you just focus on getting those clothes and keeping your eyes to yourself," Santana jokingly replied as she turned the blonde around and gave her a little tap on butt to send her on her way.

Brittany started towards her room but not before throwing over her shoulder, "Fine, but only if you keep your _hands_ to yourself."

Santana immediately went to protest, but the bedroom door shut before she could even get a word out.

After the girls had changed out of their work attire, they made their way into the living room where the game console had been set up. Santana went ahead and claimed her spot on the couch while Brittany got everything ready since she knew she would be absolutely no help to the girl.

"Have you ever played this one?" Brittany asked, holding up Super Mario Kart.

"Yes! I used to play that with my cousins all the time. It was one of my favorites," Santana replied with a approving grin.

"Okay, great," Brittany said as she slid the cartridge into the game console and flicked on the power. Standing up, she walked over to the couch and handed Santana a controller before taking a seat right next to her.

The blonde quickly flew through the opening settings so they could be brought to the character select, where she immediately picked Yoshi. Santana soon followed the blonde's motions, but just as she was about to make the final confirmation of who she wanted to play as, Brittany spoke up.

"Peach?" the blonde almost shouted out in a shocked tone.

Santana gave the girl a questioning look, "What? Is there something wrong with her?"

"No, no. Pick who you want," Brittany tried to say, but Santana could tell that there was something else there.

"Do you have something against her?"

"No, I've just always thought of her as being kind of whiny," Brittany responded in a slightly annoyed tone as she glared at the princess shown on the television screen.

"Wait, what?" Santana asked, assuming that she had heard wrong since she had never seen the blonde talk about someone that way.

Brittany drug her eyes over to look at the other woman, "Princess Peach. I never really understood her appeal. She always acts like a damsel in distress, but in Super Mario Brothers 2, she was a playable character who could freaking fly, making her arguably the best character to play as. Sure, she could only float for a few seconds, but seriously. Does she really need someone else to save her with moves like that? No."

Santana was completely floored by the way the blonde was acting, "Britt, where is this coming from?"

"I'm just saying that I never really liked her," Brittany mumbled in a huff.

"Why?" Santana tried, but the blonde decided to take it another route.

"Do you like her?"

"I don't know. I guess she's alright."

"No, I mean do you _like_ her?"

Finally catching on, the Latina felt her eyes widen in surprise, "What? Of course not, Britt. The only reason I picked her was because she's the only character my cousins would let me play as when we were kids."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Look, Britt, I don't mean to insinuate anything, but are you- are you jealous?"

"What? No! Of course I'm not! Why would I be jealous of Princess Peach? She's a video game character, and a lame one at that," Brittany said in an unconvincing tone. Realizing that Santana wasn't buying it, Brittany admitted, "Okay, maybe just a little."

"Why?"

"Because she's pretty and a lot of people seem to love her. I remember the neighborhood boys always talking about how they had huge crushes on her back when we used to play as kids. It wouldn't surprise me if you did, too," Brittany stated with a slightly dejected look on her face.

"B, just because Mario and Bowser have their little feud going while a bunch of other little prepubescent and not so prepubescent boys, and maybe even some girls, have the hots for her doesn't mean that I want her, and that counts for every other girl out there. You're the only one I'm interested in."

"You mean it?"

"Of course I do. In fact, I think I'm going to switch to somebody else," she said, backing out and moving the cursor on the screen over to Bowser.

"No, San, you don't have to do that. I'm sorry," Brittany apologized as she tried to stop her.

Santana gave a shrug, "Don't worry about it. It's about time I gave one of the other characters a shot, and I've secretly always wanted to play as good ol' King Koopa so let's go."

Just as Santana went to confirm her decision, she was stopped by the blonde.

"Wait, hold on a minute!" Brittany quickly yelled before she backed out of Yoshi and moved her cursor over to Princess Peach.

This change caused Santana to become somewhat confused, "Why did you switch? I thought you didn't like her."

"I don't. I just figured that if your character is going to be trying to kidnap anyone, it might as well be my character."

Santana felt her cheeks heat up a little as she tried to tell the other woman, "I don't think it works like that in this game, Britt. I think they're just racing."

"Same principals. If you're Bowser, than I want to be Peach."

"Um, shouldn't you want to be Peach if I were Mario?"

"No," Brittany refused.

"Well, what if I don't want you to be Peach?"

A look of hurt overtook the blonde's features, "Why not?"

Santana became a little bashful as she answered, "Because she never ends up with Bowser in the end. I know it's probably because of all the kidnapping but still."

"San, do you honestly think a princess would let herself get kidnapped that many times without at least liking Bowser a little bit?" Brittany challenged before adding, "I bet she's just faking it."

Santana felt her eyes widen in surprise, "Faking it?"

"Yeah, she probably just felt sorry for Mario and let him save her to distract the rest of the kingdom away from her love of Bowser. I mean, all Mario does is eat mushrooms and plumb pipes all day-"

"Wanky," Santana quietly muttered to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Deciding that it was probably for the best if she didn't question the matter further, Brittany continued, "Anyways, do you really think a princess would want someone like that? She probably really likes Bowser, and I bet he's really, really sweet to her when they're together. He's just misunderstood."

Seeing the similarities between her and the giant spiked koopa, Santana admitted, "Well, I guess you have a good point there. It's definitely a possibility."

Brittany gave a nod in agreement before turning her attention back to the game, "So, which tournament do you want to race in first?"

"I don't know. Let's just start with the Mushroom Cup and work our way from there."

With a brief nod, Brittany made their selection and got ready for their first race. The pair remained mostly silent aside from the occasional playful trash talk until their final lap when Brittany suddenly spoke up, "Sorry I was jealous earlier, San."

"Don't worry. You're cute when you get all jelly like that."

"So jelly."

"Totes jelly," Santana replied right before slipping on a banana peel and let out a small groan in frustration.

"Okay, no," Brittany said as she turned into the last straightaway.

"No?"

"One abbreviated word is fine, but two is just crossing the line," Brittany joked, taking a quick glance over at Santana as she continued to drive towards the finish.

"Speaking of crossing the line, look who just kicked your ass at Mario Kart!" Santana exclaimed as she gently tossed the controller on the ground and stood from the couch, throwing her fists up in victory.

"What? No way! That's imposs-" Brittany exclaimed as she snapped her eyes back to the screen,"-i-ble." The blonde finished the word in complete awe as she saw Bowser in the first place slot and Peach sitting in second.

"And that is why you always have a red shell handy," the Latina said matter-of-factly before adding, "I used to use that trick on my cousins all the time. They absolutely hated me for it."

Santana continued celebrating while Brittany sat on the couch feigning sadness.

"Hey, don't be like that. I'm allowed to win every once in a while," Santana said after noticing the pout on the blonde's face.

Without saying a word, Brittany reached slowly and slid her hand into Santana's, swinging them side to side momentarily before pulling the other woman into her lap. Trapping the brunette's arms underneath her own, she proceeded to press a long, firm kiss to the girl's cheek and placed her chin on her shoulder, "Good job, San. I must say that shell trick was awfully clever."

"Thanks. I thought so, too," Santana said as she leaned her head to rest on top of the blonde's.

The pair continued sitting there in silence before the brunette spoke up once more, "Britt, are we together?"

"What do you mean? Of course we're together. You, me, and Lord Tubbington are all hanging out and playing some old school video games together," she said, motioning to the cat napping on the floor beside the couch.

"No, I mean _together_ together. Like, officially."

"Like girlfriends?"

"Yes."

Brittany pulled away slightly, looking at the girl with a confused look on her face, "Wait, you and I haven't been together this entire time?"

"Since the first date?" Santana assumed.

The ad executive slowly shook her head, "No, since the night you picked me up from the airport. I told you I was your narwhal, didn't I?"

"Is that what you meant when you said that?"

"Yes. You didn't know?"

Santana let out a small sigh, "Britt, you know how bad I am about picking up on things. I honestly didn't know what you meant when you said it."

Brittany leaned all the way back on the couch with an insecure look on her face as she released her hold around the accountant and wrapped them securely around her own torso, "Oh, I thought just saying it like that would be enough. If I would have known you didn't understand, I would have made it more obvious a lot sooner. I just sometimes forget that my train of thought or the way I word stuff is a little hard to follow. Sorry, San."

"Hey, no," Santana said as she reached down to grab the blonde's arms and slid them back around her waist, "Don't get down about that. It's my fault that it's taken so long to bring it back up. I had a feeling that's what you meant, but I didn't want to assume anything. I should have just asked you about it right then and there."

"Okay, well just to make it clear, narwhal refers to your girlfriend in Brittany-speak."

"And unicorn refers to _your_ girlfriend in Santana-speak," the Latina announced as she gave Brittany's cheekbone a small peck and climbed off the blonde's lap to get ready for their next race.

After finishing the Mushroom Cup, Brittany looked over at the brunette, "Alright, Winner-Winner-Chicken-Dinner, do you want to move on to the Flower Cup?"

"Actually, I think I'd much rather prefer watching my girlfriend kick Mario's ass again. Damn plumber wouldn't stop cheating the whole time we were playing. Stupid star power thing," Santana grumbled as she went to lie down and placed her head on Brittany's lap.

"Alright, I'll do my best," Brittany said as she started making her way back through the settings to start another round of racing.

Santana smiled as she gave the blonde's knee a couple of encouraging pats, "That's my girl."

* * *

Santana woke up the next morning with the sounds of the game's opening title screen ringing in her ears. Realizing that she was still lying down with her head resting on the blonde's lap from the night before, she groggily reached up and gave the top of the girl's leg a few strong shakes, "Britt. Hey, Britt."

"Hm," the blonde hummed out after a few proceeding leg shakes.

"Can you turn down the music? It's driving me crazy."

Brittany slowly opened her eyes, taking a moment to blink a few times before sleepily searching for the remote control and muting the television. Placing the device back down on the arm of the couch, she noticed Santana's hand making a grabbing motion over her shoulder.

As soon as the Latina felt a hand being placed in her own, she drug it down to her lips and gave Brittany's palm a lazy kiss before placing it back on top of her shoulder, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Brittany responded as she slowly began combing her fingers through the other woman's dark hair, "Would you like me to go fix you some breakfast?"

"No, but I would absolutely _love_ for you to come lie down here with me."

"San, there's barely enough room for you to comfortably sleep on this thing," Brittany said as she pat the couch arm, "What makes you think we can both fit?"

Santana rolled over so she could look up at the blonde, "Well, I have a hankering feeling that we can both sleep on here if you hold me super, super close."

"Oh, yeah? You think?" the blonde asked with a smirk, causing Santana to give a few lazy nods, "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." Brittany helped Santana lean forward slightly so she could stand up, but just as she got ready to slide in behind the brunette, she heard a stomach grumble. Knowing that the only other stomach that could have made the noise besides her own was the one belonging to the slightly embarrassed looking Latina still lying on the couch, she asked, "Santana, you are hungry, aren't you?"

"No," Santana muttered bashfully.

"Are you lying to me?"

"No."

"Santana," the ad executive warned.

"Okay, maybe a little."

"Well, let me go get you something, then."

The Latina quickly reached out and grabbed Brittany's hand and attempted to pull the woman down on top of her, "No, stay here with me. I'll be fine."

"But, San, it's the most important meal of the day. It helps your memory, energy, concentration, and most importantly," Brittany reached out and lightly tapped the middle of the brunette's chest, "your heart."

"Then, I'll eat in a little while. Right now, I would like nothing more than to sleep in a little bit more while wrapped up in the arms of my very beautiful, very wonderful, and very caring narwhal. Doesn't that sound like a fantastic plan?"

"Well, I can't really say no to that," Brittany replied as she slid in between Santana and the back of the sofa.

Santana quickly rolled over to face her girlfriend and nuzzled her head underneath the blonde's chin while Brittany pulled her into a tight embrace. Just as Santana was about to drift back off to sleep, however, Brittany's phone started to ring, causing the accountant to let out a frustrated groan, "Please, just leave it. I don't want either of us to move."

Chuckling at Santana's antics, Brittany let go of her hold around the girl so she could sit up, "I don't think you want me to do that. It's my parents."

"How do you know? You haven't even looked yet."

Brittany started reaching for the device on the end table, "Because they have their own ringtone. See?"

Without looking, the ad executive directed the phone's display screen towards the brunette, where she read _Mom & Dad_, "Oh, well then by all means, pick it up."

Answering the phone, the blonde sank back down to slide an arm under her pouting girlfriend so she could pull her close once more, "Hello? Hey, Mom, how are you? Uh-huh. Yeah, I'm good. Just laying here with San."

This caused Santana to suddenly jolt backwards and tumble to the floor.

"Oh my gosh! San, are you okay? Wait, what, Mom? No, I think everything's fine. Santana just fell off the couch. Hold on," the blonde said as she turned her attention back to the brunette, "San, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Why did you tell her we were laying down together? Now she's going to get the wrong idea and hate me," Santana whisper-shouted.

Brittany just rolled her eyes at the other woman's statement before speaking into the phone, "Yeah, she's fine, Mom. San's just being silly."

"No I'm not!" Santana tried to quietly yell at the blonde but was quickly cut off by Brittany holding up a finger to tell her to wait.

"Yeah, okay. I'll talk to you in a minute, then," Brittany said as she hung up the phone and pushed herself off the couch so she could make her way over to her bedroom.

"Wait, where are you going?" Santana asked as she turned around on the floor to watch the retreating blonde.

"I have to go get my computer. This is the only time my parents and I could find to have our weekly Skype chat. I'll be back in just a second."

"Oh, alright," Santana mumbled as she crawled back onto the couch and curled up into a ball on the opposite end from where they had been laying so Brittany would have room to sit when she returned.

Soon enough, the blonde was seated back on the couch and opening up her laptop. Feeling the Latina wedging her feet under her thigh, Brittany looked over to her, "What are you doing?"

"My toes are cold."

"No, I mean why are you lying over there?"

Santana's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "Because you're about to have a Skype chat with your parents, and I didn't want to get in the way. Would you rather me leave?"

Brittany let out a laugh, "San, part of the reason why I agreed to do this right now was because you're here. They have been wanting to meet you for months."

"They have?"

"Of course they have."

"Why?"

"Because they want to get to know the girl I keep telling them about. Now, get your cute little butt over here so I can introduce you to them," she said as she pointed to the spot next to her and faced the computer to answer the incoming video chat invite once the girl was seated beside her.

As soon as the video appeared, Santana noticed two older blondes sitting opposite them on the other side of the computer screen.

"Hey, Mom and Dad."

"Hey, girls," Brittany's parents answered.

"H-hi," Santana nervously stuttered after realizing that they were addressing her, too.

"San, this is my mom, Susan, and my dad, John. Mom and Dad, this is Santana," Brittany introduced as she motioned to the girl beside her.

"I'm sorry about before. I swear we weren't doing anything this morning. We just had a good, wholesome night of playing games, and I accidentally fell asleep on her lap," Santana blurted out before her eyes started to widen in realization of what she just said, "I mean-Shit! That's not what I meant. Sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm also sorry for cussing just now. I didn't mean to. It just came out."

Just as Santana was about to get up and crawl into a deep, dark hole somewhere where she would never be heard from again, Brittany wrapped her arm around her waist and turned her attention back to her parents, "My little unicorn here is obviously a bit nervous, so please go easy on her."

Santana suddenly heard a round of laughter come from the two older Pierce's, making her want to disappear even more.

Susan must have been just as perceptive as her daughter was to the Latina's feelings because she was the first to speak up, "Aw, Honey, don't worry so much. We understood what you meant. Oh, and Brittany, it looks like you caught yourself quite a keeper. She's gorgeous and obviously very sweet."

"Now, I wouldn't say tha-" Santana tried to refute but was cut off by the blonde throwing a hand over her mouth.

"Don't listen to her. She's the absolute sweetest. She just doesn't like people to know about it because she likes to pretend she's a badass."

The accountant instantly pulled Brittany's hand away from her mouth, "For the last time, I'm not pretending."

"Whatever you say, Sweet," Brittany said as she pressed a kiss to the other girl's forehead before whispering, "but remember that it becomes less believable if you have to say it." Seeing her girlfriend pout as she gave the floor a hard look, she started rubbing her hand up and down Santana's back, "Aw, I was just joking, San. You are totally the most badassiest badass of them all, and I am so lucky to have my life graced by the presence of such a BAMF."

Santana looked over to Brittany while trying to keep herself from laughing, "You know, I probably would have actually believed that if you wouldn't have laid it on so thick. Is there anything else you would like to add to that?"

"Just that you should officially change you name to Santana 'The Badass' Lopez so people can know how ferocious you _think_ you are as soon as they meet you."

Santana pointed her finger at the blonde in a pseudo-threatening manner with a small smile, "Okay, You, that's enough making fun of me for one day. Besides, we should probably get back to talking with your parents."

Turning their attention back towards the computer screen, they found Brittany's parents with amused looks on their faces.

"Oh, you don't have to stop on our account. This is extremely entertaining," John tried to convince the girls, but Santana was determined to not embarrass herself any further.

"No, I think we really do. So, anyways, how's the weather over there?"

"Wow, way to use the most generic segue ever, San," Brittany joked as she bumped her body into the brunette's side.

"Let her be, Brittany. She's fine," Susan said to her daughter before looking back over to Santana, "It's been lovely outside. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that."

The four continued to chat for a while before Brittany's parents had to leave to run their weekend errands. Before ending the chat, they exchanged good-byes with the girls, telling Santana that it was a pleasure to finally meet her and how they hoped she would make another appearance in one of their weekly Skype sessions soon.

Closing her laptop, Brittany looked over to the other woman, "See, that wasn't so bad."

"Sure, whatever. Now, let's go back to sleep. I need my beauty rest," Santana said just as her stomach let out a large growl.

"Actually, I think you need to eat," Brittany chuckled as she walked off to make the Latina some breakfast.

"Wait, no, come back," Santana groaned before she finally gave up and followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Sorry that it took me so long to finish this chapter. I really wanted to have it posted by last Thursday or Friday so it could maybe help lift everyone's spirits, but I got a little overexcited about being able to sleep now that my spring semester is finished so I've basically been hibernating for the past week._

_This chapter was pretty interesting for me because I actually ended up using my communication class for it, which was funny for me since we had been covering jealousy for the final exam. I also pulled a little bit from my childhood since Super Mario Kart has always been one of my favorite video games, and I was looking for a fun, easy way to show a little bit of jealous Britt without it being too serious._

_That being said, I'm sorry if any of you dislike video games and/or have no idea what I was talking about during this chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed the idea on some level and didn't think it was a complete waste of your time._

_Anyways, thank you all so much for reading. I hope to see you next time!_


	14. Ohio Bound

Santana stepped out of the elevator and began following the familiar path leading to her girlfriend's office when she heard a voice call out from beside her.

"Hello, Santana. I didn't know you'd be dropping by today."

Turning her head slightly, she found Patricia standing at her desk where she had been talking to her boss. Realizing the Latina's presence, Chris spun around to face her, "Hey, Lopez! Come to pick up your girl?"

Santana gave a slight nod, "Yep, I got off a little early, so I thought I would surprise her."

"Alright, well, she should still be in there," Chris informed as he hooked his thumb over his shoulder, motioning towards the blonde's office, "By the way, I saw a guy delivering flowers to her this morning. Special day?"

"Yeah, it's our three month anniversary," Santana admitted bashfully.

Patricia's face instantly lit up, "Congratulations, Dear!"

"Thank you. Anyways, I'm going to go see what she's up to so I'll talk to you later," Santana said, giving the pair a small wave before turning to continue her path.

Giving the office door a few light knocks to alert the blonde that someone was about to come inside, Santana cracked it open to find Brittany sitting behind the computer at her desk. Swinging the door open the rest of the way, she stepped inside and closed the door before making her way over to the other side of the room, "Hey, Babe."

As soon as she reached Brittany, Santana placed a hand on the back of the blonde's office chair and desk to brace herself while she leaned down to give her girlfriend a peck on the cheek. It didn't take long, however, to realize that the woman hadn't moved since she walked into the office.

Leaning back a little, she found Brittany frozen as she stared wide-eyed at her computer screen. Curious to see what was going on, Santana crouch down far enough to follow the ad executive's line of sight and saw the statistics screen for some sort of game.

"Britt, what is this?"

With a shaky voice, Brittany explained, "Since I have been having so much fun playing video games lately, I thought I would try to find one with unicorns in it as a way to mash up two of my favorite things. After running a search, I came across this game called 'Robot Unicorn Attack,' which sounded pretty cool at the time, so I decided to give it a shot. Everything was fine until I ran into the side of a cliff and the unicorn exploded. Like, it just blew up," The blonde took a slight pause before concluding, "I think I'm going to have nightmares."

Santana pulled the woman's chair out from under her desk so she could sit on her girlfriend's lap. Knowing the perfect way to distract the girl, she quickly placed her hand on the blonde's jawline to help redirect her focus, "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to help you take your mind off that game then, aren't I?"

Without waiting for an answer, Santana surged forward and took the blonde's lower lip between her own. The kiss quickly turned tender, however, as Brittany snapped out of her game-induced fright and smiled into the kiss.

Pulling away a few seconds later, the Latina lovingly brushed her thumb across Brittany's cheek, "Happy anniversary, Britt-Britt."

"Happy anniversary, San," the blonde responded with a bright smile which suddenly transformed into a small smirk, "Speaking of which, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but was the second set of flowers you sent me really necessary?"

Santana's face was immediately overcome by a look of mock offense, "Of course it was! I sent you one that you could look at while at home, but what about while you were at work?"

"Well, thank you, Santana. Maybe I could have done the same for you if I would have known you'd be ignoring our no gift rule."

"It's not a gift. It's just a kind gesture to thank you for offering to make dinner."

"Of course I would. You made dinner last time which means I'd be breaking the rules if I didn't."

"Okay, well then I just wanted to thank you for putting up with me for yet another month."

Brittany playfully rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't necessarily call it 'putting up' with you, San. It's not like you're forcing me to date you against my will."

"And for that, I am grateful. Seriously, do you know how much more time I would have to spend just to find ways to get you to stay with me if you weren't the least bit interested?" Santana joked, giving the girl a small wink.

"Well, it's a good thing our feelings are pretty much mutual then, huh?"

"Yep, I guess so," Santana said as she pushed herself from Brittany's lap, earning her a pout from the blonde. "Hey, tuck in that bottom lip. I had to get up some time or we would never make it home for dinner. Speaking of which, are you ready to go?"

"I sure am."

Santana let out a giggle as she held out her hand to help the girl up, "Alright, let's get out of here then. I'm starving."

* * *

The women had already decided that they would head over to the blonde's apartment since they had been forced to spend the majority of their day away from one another and were ready for some alone time. The meal only took about an hour to cook so it wasn't long before they were eating catty-corner from one another at the blonde's small dining room table.

Hearing her cellphone's text notification suddenly go off, Santana let out a groan and quickly stood up to retrieve the device out of her purse so she could silence it, "Sorry, B. Mom has been up my ass all afternoon about going home for a damn visit."

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad," Brittany replied, eating another fork full of baked ziti.

Sitting back down, Santana added, "She also keeps asking for you to come along."

"I know."

Santana snapped her eyes over to the blonde, "You do?"

"Yeah, she already invited me to go with you," Brittany answered as she put down her fork and folded her arms in front of her on the table. "We were talking last week, and she asked me if you had mentioned the trip yet. I told her that I was going to let you bring it up in your own time and requested that she not say anything about me knowing."

"Damn woman. She always has to be in everyone else's business," the brunette grumbled under her breath.

Brittany scrunched her eyes in confusion, "Do you not want me to go?"

"No!" she shouted out before watching Brittany's expression take on a look of hurt and realized what she had just said. "I mean, yes. Right? Wait," Santana said, giving a frustrated sigh after managing to confuse herself. "_No_ as in I don't want you to _not_ go, and _yes_ as in of course I want you to go. I just understand that there's a chance you might not want to come, and I don't want you to feel as if she is pressuring you."

"Why wouldn't I want to go?"

Santana dropped her gaze to the plate of food in front of her and started to push the pasta around with her fork, "Because you might think it is too fast to trip like this together. I mean, technically, we haven't been dating for that long, but we've been friends for a while now so I'm not exactly sure how this kind of stuff is supposed to work. It's just that it's been a really long time since I've been in a relationship, and I never took them on any kind of them trip with me so-"

Sensing that she wasn't even close to stopping, Brittany decided to cut her off, "San, Baby, please take a breath. I'd like for you stay conscious on our anniversary, and you won't be able to do that without a constant supply of oxygen to power that little paranoid brain of yours. Now, what did I tell you about timing on our first date?"

Without meeting her eyes, Santana quietly repeated, "It's only too fast if you let it be."

"Exactly, and I certainly don't think it is too fast. Do you?" the blonde replied in softer voice.

"Well, no," Santana mumbled.

"Okay, and have I ever given you a reason to think that I don't want this just as much as you do?" Brittany asked, motioning between the two of them.

"No."

"Then, please stop worrying so much. You know how I feel so there's no need to keep doubting yourself."

"Sorry."

The blonde lightly shook her head at her girlfriend's apology with a hint of a smile, "There's also no need to be sorry. Just try to remember everything I said when that little voice in your head starts trying to confuse you, okay?"

"Okay."

"I love you," Brittany said with a grin.

Santana quickly developed a smile of her own as she finally met the blonde's eyes once more, "I love you, too, B."

After the pair started eating again, Santana cautiously looked back over to the blonde, "So, would you like to go with me?"

"Only if you want me to."

"Definitely. You'll also have to take some time off, though. Is that still okay?"

Brittany started nodding eagerly as she rushed to chew the bite of food she had just stuck in her mouth. Swallowing, she replied, "Yeah, I'm sure I can bribe Chris into getting someone to cover for me. We're still just finishing up that project I told you about, and there's really not much else going on that they specifically need me for. Maribel said you're supposed to be going down in two weeks, right?"

"Yep, that's the plan."

"Okay, perfect. I'll talk to him about it tomorrow, then."

* * *

The next two weeks passed by quickly, and before they knew it, the two women were getting ready to drive to Ohio.

"You know, for such a self-proclaimed badass, you sure are a scaredy cat," Brittany joked as she threw a bag into the back of the brunette's car.

"For the last time, I'm not scared. I just like to keep my feet on the ground. Besides, we'll be saving ourselves some money by driving."

Brittany laughed at the brunette's justification, "San, you parents offered to pay for our tickets."

"Yeah, only because they knew I wouldn't want to fly."

"Which is because?"

"Fine, because I'm afraid to fly, damn it. Happy?" Santana answered in a huff.

"Aw, I'm sorry. I was just messing with you," Brittany apologized as she bent down to place the bag she was about to load back on the ground. When she looked back up, however, she had a mischievous smirk on her face.

Knowing what Brittany was about to do, Santana started backing up, "B, don't even think about it."

Suddenly, Brittany dashed forward before the Latina had time to get away and wrapped her up in a hug. As soon as she had secured her hold around the girl, she started placing light pecks all over her face.

"Britt, no, stop," Santana laughed out as she tried to push the other woman away.

Brittany leaned back a little without releasing her, "What is this? Santana Lopez is turning down Sweet Lady Kisses with her girlfriend?"

"Oh no, these aren't Sweet Lady Kisses. These are Britt-Britt Attack Kisses."

"Well, in that case," Brittany said as she acted like she was going to give the brunette a real Sweet Lady Kiss.

"Okay, time to get off," Santana shouted as she struggled to free herself.

Finally wedging her arms between them, Santana started prying herself away from the blonde's grasp. As soon as she was free, Brittany's expression turned into a pout, "Aw, it was just starting to get good, too."

"Yeah, and if you keep this up, we'll never get on the road. By the way, that pout isn't going to work so you might as well stop," Santana said as she went back to loading.

"Only because you refuse to look at me," Brittany chuckled knowingly. "Besides, it's still pretty early. We have plenty of time for Sweet Lady Kisses before we leave."

Santana rolled her eyes, "Nope, no can do. We have a really long drive ahead of us, so you'll just have to wait until we get to Lima. Now, help me finish loading all our stuff so we can get on the road."

* * *

Roughly ten hours later, the pair came driving up to the Lopez family household. Noticing an empty driveway, Santana opted to park in front of the house and looked over to the car's clock to check the time, "My parents probably won't be home for another hour or so, which gives us time to unpack. Do you want to go ahead and get that out of the way?" Receiving a nod in from the blonde, she stepped out of the car and popped the trunk.

As soon as everything was upstairs in the brunette's room, they flopped onto the bed and allowed themselves to relax.

"Oh my goodness, this bed is so comfy. I could just lay here forever," Brittany muttered into the pillow her head was resting on.

"I know. I wish I could have taken it with me when I moved out," Santana said as she rolled onto her side, "You know, I'm pretty sure I've never had anyone I've dated in here before."

"Hm, I guess we should make the most of our situation then, shouldn't we?" Brittany questioned with a devilish glint in her eyes as she pushed herself up a little to look at the Latina.

"Yep, I guess so," Santana concluded with a wide grin and allowed herself to lay down on her back.

"Good because I'm looking to cash in those Sweet Lady Kisses you owe me from earlier," Brittany said, hovering over her girlfriend as she started to lean in. Before their lips could meet, however, they heard the front door shut.

"Girls?" Maribel called out.

Santana instantly brought her voice down to a whisper, "Okay, don't say anything and maybe she'll think we left."

"Without the car?" Brittany inquired without bothering to lower her voice.

"We could have gone for a walk or something. Now, shush!" Santana shout-whispered, trying to hush the girl.

Brittany rolled her eyes before yelling, "We're up here, Maribel."

"Oh, alright. I'll be up there in a minute," the older woman called from downstairs.

"Damn it, Brittany! Now look what you've done. Just when I was about to get my mack on, too!"

Brittany simply gave the upset Latina a small peck on the lips before getting up to walk towards the door, "Don't worry about it, Mama Lopez. We'll come down to you."

Santana rolled over onto her stomach and let out a loud groan into her pillow before pushing herself off the bed to follow her girlfriend downstairs.

As soon as Santana walked into the living room, she found her mother pulling the blonde into a hug, "I'm so glad my daughter finally came to her senses and made you her girlfriend. Welcome to the family, Brittany." Quickly pulling away to hold the girl at arm's length, she added, "Oh, and I pulled out all those old baby albums I told you about. We can look through them later on tonight if you want."

"Seriously, Mom? It hasn't even been five minutes, and you're already trying to embarrass me," Santana griped.

Spotting the accountant at the foot of the stairs, Maribel went over to embrace her daughter despite her protests. After a small struggle, the older woman managed to get her arms locked around the girl, "Aw, it's okay, my sweet little Santanita. I just figured it would be alright since she was the one who asked to see them. I guess I was wrong."

Finally managing to push her mother off of her, she mumbled, "Fine, let her see the damn pictures. I don't care."

Maribel didn't so much as bat an eye as she turned to walk towards the kitchen, "Great, so now that that's settled, I'm going to go start prepping for dinner. Brittany, Santana told me that you've never tried Puerto Rican food, so I thought I would cook you one of my specialties tonight. Is that okay?"

"Yes, that sounds perfect," the blonde responded excitedly. As soon as Maribel was gone, Brittany walked over to her pouting girlfriend and started to rub a soothing hand up and down her back, "We don't really have to look at them if you don't want us to, San."

Allowing her tense shoulders to relax, she heaved out a sigh, "No, it's okay. Just please do it while I'm not in the room. I can't stand my mother when she starts gushing over those old photos."

"Deal. Now, let's go watch her so we can make this at home," Brittany said as she pulled Santana in the direction Maribel had gone. As soon as they had made it to the kitchen, the blonde spoke up again, "So, Mama Lopez, what's on the menu?"

"I was thinking about making carne guisada puertorriqueña, which is Puerto Rican beef stew."

"Okay, great. San and I want to learn how to cook it, too, so we'll be here to help out if you need us."

Maribel gave the girl a warm smile, "Alright, feel free to jump in and ask questions whenever you'd like."

"Awesome! Come on, San. Let's wash our hands," Brittany said as she dashed over to the sink.

About thirty minutes later, Brittany felt comfortable enough to take over for Maribel, insisting that she take seat since she had been working all day. It didn't take long for Santana to realize that the blonde didn't really need her help either, so she decided to join her mother, who was sitting at the nearby kitchen table.

After directing Brittany a little on what to do next, Maribel lowered her voice so that only her daughter could hear, "That girl really is something."

"Tell me about it," she replied while she watching Brittany stir the pot of food.

"Hello? Anyone home?" a loud, booming voice called from the front door.

"Dad!" Santana called out as she jumped up and ran into the living room.

Seeing his daughter sprinting towards him, the man quickly put down his things and was immediately barreled into. Getting a good hold around his daughter, he stood up to his full height, effectively picking her up off the ground, "Ah, Santana Banana! I've missed you!"

"Me too!" Santana giggled out as he started to swing her gently from side to side before placing her back down on the ground.

"Wow, I'm definitely feeling the love right now. Sure wish I could be the awesome parent," Maribel remarked jokingly from the other side of the room.

Santana spun around to face her mother, "You certainly would have received a better welcome during your visit if you hadn't scared me shitless as soon as I got home."

"Well, you would have heard me walk into the room if my footsteps hadn't been drowned out by the sounds of your excited giggling after you got that text from your future girlfriend," Maribel commented with a smirk.

Santana could feel her cheeks heating up as she glanced over to Brittany, who was clearly trying to hide her laughter. Overcome by embarrassment, Santana shot a glare at the lawyer, "Mom! You weren't supposed to tell her about that!"

"I didn't. She just so happened to overhear me."

"Of course she did! She's standing right next to you, damn it!" Before Maribel even had a chance to open her mouth, Santana added, "Yeah, I know. Watch the language. Sheesh."

Feeling that he should distract the two women, Santana's father jumped in, "Mija, I think you have someone to introduce me to."

Snapping out of the stare down with her mother, which Maribel had refused partake in, she looked over to the man standing beside her with a bright smile, "Okay!" Grabbing his hand, she eagerly drug him over towards the blonde, "Dad, this is Brittany. B, this is my dad, Carlos."

Her father's large hand passed beside her as he reached out toward the other girl, "Pleasure to finally meet you, Brittany. Maribel mentioned something the other day about this being your first trip to Ohio."

"Yes, sir. That's right," she said with a grin a she shook his hand.

"We'll, I certainly hope you enjoy your stay."

"So far so good."

Carlos let out a deep laugh, "Good, good. By the way, something smells delicious."

"Brittany helped cooked it, Dad. My girl is a culinary genius," Santana boasted as she took a step forward to press a kiss to the blonde's cheek.

"San, your mom was telling me what to do the whole time, and don't forget that you helped out, too," Brittany tried to argue.

"Yeah, but only because I was your sous-chef. I would have been completely lost if you weren't there to direct me."

"Isn't that the truth?" Maribel joked.

Sensing another round of bickering was about to start, Carlos quickly jumped in, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I am starving. How about we all get some grub and eat?" He then proceeded to make his way into the kitchen, causing the three women to follow his lead.

* * *

Brittany walked into Santana's room a couple days later to find her girlfriend with her arms wrapped around the pillow she had thrown over her face to block the morning light. Walking over to the girl, she placed the tray she had been carrying on the bedside table so she could take a seat on the bed and gave Santana's shoulder a small shake, "Wakie-wakie, eggs and bakie."

"No, no wakie," Santana grumbled as she curled her arms tighter around the pillow.

"Am I going to have to use my attack kisses?"

"Don't want attack kisses. They tickle," Santana's muffled voice answered through the pillow.

"Okay, well you have to get up, then," Brittany giggled as she tried to pull the pillow away from the girl's face, which only caused Santana to grip it even harder.

"No Britty allowed under the pillow."

"I promise I won't give you any attack kisses if you get up now. I brought you some breakfast."

Immediately uncovering her head, Santana gave the blonde a suspicious look, "What for?

Fighting to hold in her laughter, the blonde tried to smooth out the girls bed hair, "Because I love you, and I want you to start your day off on the right foot."

"Mhmm," the Latina hummed out as she narrowed her eyes to look for any signs of the girl having an ulterior motive. A couple seconds of intense watching later, she finally sat up into a sitting position, "Alright, I guess I believe you."

"Good, I'm glad we could finally get that settled," Brittany laughed as she reached over to grab the tray of food and placed it on Santana's lap. After the brunette started to dig in, Brittany asked, "Hey, do you think we can go for a walk afterwhile? I want to see where you grew up."

Santana quirked her eyebrows in confusion, "I thought we already did that."

"We did, but I didn't get to really see anything since we were in your car."

"Alright, we can take the tour on foot then. I mean, you did make me breakfast in bed after all. How could I possibly say no? By the way, this is really good. Thank you," Santana said as she offered Brittany a bite of pancake, which the blonde gratefully took.

Brittany let out a small hum of satisfaction before replying with a simple, "Your welcome."

* * *

The girls ended up walking through a few of the nearby neighborhoods, swung on the swing sets at the local park, and even went by William McKinley High School since that was what the blonde seemed most interested in seeing.

Brittany had tried to ask Santana a little about what her high school experience was like while they were there, but Santana told her that it would have to be a story for another day. This worried the blonde until she remembered that high school hadn't been the brightest time in the brunette's life, but Brittany still had a nagging feeling that the Latina's aversion towards those years were caused by more than her high school experience.

She could tell there was something deeper that Santana was trying to avoid, but she didn't want to ask why. Their day had been almost perfect, and the last thing Brittany wanted to do was mess that up for them so she opted to keep quiet and save her questions for another time.

It was dark by the time they made it back from their walk. While making their way over to the front door, Brittany asked, "Where are your parents? Weren't they supposed to be home by now?"

Santana looked over toward the driveway, and sure enough, her parent's cars weren't there. "I don't know. I guess they got caught up at work or something. It happens all the time, so I wouldn't worry too much," she said as she began to dig into her purse to find her keys.

Opening the door, she reached over and flicked on the lights. The room was immediately illuminated, revealing a large group of people standing in her living room.

"Surprise! Happy birthday, Santana!"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Hello, everyone. Sorry for the wait. This was the first chapter that really gave me trouble to write, but that's probably because I was also trying to work on Chapter 15 and 16 at the same time as writing this. That being said, I can say that Chapter 15 is almost finished. Hopefully, I can get that posted soon to make up for you all having to wait for Chapter 14._

_I'd also just like to take a minute to thank you all so much for all of your support, whether it be by following, favoriting, reviewing, or even just reading the story. Seriously, thank you._

_Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I'll see you next time!_


	15. Surprise

After getting over the initial shock of having a group of people yelling 'happy birthday' at her, Santana looked over to the blonde standing beside her, "You knew this trip was for my birthday the whole time, didn't you?"

Brittany gave her girlfriend an eager nod with a huge grin plastered on her face.

Fighting back a smile, Santana narrowed her eyes at the girl, "I knew something was up when you brought me breakfast in bed and then asked me to take you on a tour I already gave you. My gut told me not to believe you, but I just _had _to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Well, you wouldn't have to be suspicious if you weren't trying to hide the fact that it was your birthday. By the way, when were you planning on telling me about that little personal detail?"

"Whenever you thought to ask about it during 20 questions," Santana answered with a sarcastic smirk.

"Ha-ha, very funny. You know, I wouldn't have been able to even get you anything if your mom hadn't clued me in, which makes me wonder if I should just go to her to get information about you from now on."

"Hey, it's not like I know your birthday either."

"September fifth."

"Duly noted," Santana replied as she lightly tapped the side of her head to show that the information had been committed to memory. Placing a hand on the small of the woman's back, she added, "Now, let's go introduce you to my family. I bet they're dying to meet the beautiful blonde bombshell I'm sure my mother has already told them all about."

Receiving a playful eye-roll from Brittany, Santana led her into the room so the blonde could get acquainted with her family. She was just about to introduce the ad executive to one of her aunts when she heard the front door abruptly open and close behind her. Turning to see who it was, Santana caught sight of someone she hadn't expected and completely froze.

"Feliz cumpleaños, Santanita. Sorry I'm a little late."

"A-Abuela?" Santana stuttered out as she fought to breathe in air that suddenly felt paper thin. Thankfully, her hand was able find its way into Brittany's to help her stay grounded before her fight-or-flight response kicked in and sent her bolting out of the room. After a few more seconds of staring at the older woman, Santana spoke up with an uncertain tone, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see my granddaughter on her birthday," the woman answered with a small smile, and Santana felt her entire body tense as her grandmother turned her head to look in the blonde's direction, "And you must be Brittany. It's nice to finally be able to put a face to a name. I'm Alma, Santanita's abuela."

Before Brittany could respond, Santana released the hand she had been holding and slid protectively in front of her. "Mikey," Santana called out, grabbing the attention of a small boy less than half her size. She quickly waved him over to stand in front of her. Kneeling down, she gave her grandmother one last stern look before dragging her eyes over to the boy with a softened expression, "Mikey, can you show Brittany here your quarter trick while I go talk to Tio Carlos and Tia Maribel in the other room?"

The boy immediately gave an excited nod so she darted over to where her purse sat by the couch to find a quarter. As soon as the boy had the coin in his hand, she turned around to the blonde, "I need to go have a quick word with my parents, but I promise I'll be right back."

Feeling a sense of unease bubbling up in her chest, Brittany maneuvered her head so she could peer at the other woman over the accountant's shoulder, "San, who is that and what does she mean by abuela?"

Santana's jaw clenched at the sound of the word she had been avoiding for years but still managed to answer, "She was trying tell you she's my grandmother. Please just-just stay away from her while I'm gone, okay?"

Not knowing what to do, Brittany moved her focus back to the girl standing in front over her and gave her a slight nod.

"Thank you," Santana whispered as she stood up on her toes to press a small kiss to the corner of her mouth.

As soon as the Latina's heels touched back down onto the floor, the little boy came running from around her side and grabbed her girlfriend's free hand, "Vámonos, Britt'ny. I gonna show you my qu'rter trick."

Once the blonde was preoccupied, Santana made her way over to her parents.

"Can I please speak with the two of you in the kitchen for a minute?" she asked in a low growl.

Realizing their daughter wasn't really giving them a choice, they quickly agreed to her request.

Santana stormed off as soon as she received their answer, knowing her parents would follow her lead. She was about halfway to her destination when she was approached by her grandmother.

"Santanita, I-"

"Not now, Abuela," Santana snapped as she sent the woman a hard glare to warn her that she should keep her distance. Not bothering to wait for a reaction, Santana continued walking towards the other room without a second glance and was met by her parents a few seconds later.

"Look, I know you're trying to perform damage control right now, but can you please try to calm down?" her father requested, but Santana wasn't having it.

"No! No way. I wouldn't even have to be doing damage control if someone would have told me that I would be seeing her today instead of just suddenly springing this shit on me."

"Santana-"

"Don't Santana me. I get that the point of a surprise party is the actual surprise, but you should have known better than to do this."

"We tried to stop her, Mija, but she wouldn't listen," Maribel cut in. "You know how she gets when she sets her mind on something. All she can focus on right now is fixing things between the two of you."

"I don't give a damn. Not after everything she's done to me," Santana retorted defensively.

"We told her that, but she just kept going on about how sorry she was," Carlos said as he tried his best to prevent his daughter from shutting them out. "We warned her that she should keep her distance until we had a chance to talk to you about it, and we thought we had finally gotten through to her until she showed up five minutes ago. We would never intentionally let this happen, Santana. I swear."

"Yeah, well, it's a little too late for that now, isn't it? If I would have known she'd be trying to contact me while I was down, I would have left Brittany at home. At least then she wouldn't have to watch me deal with all this shit," Santana shot back, gritting her teeth at the thought of having to tell the blonde she couldn't come on the trip. Snapping out of her train of thought, she continued, "Please tell Abuela that I do not want her anywhere near Brittany until I know for myself that she's changed. I refuse to give her the chance to treat my girlfriend the way she treated me, and I'll do whatever it takes to protect her, which includes making Abuela leave. I wouldn't think twice before throwing that woman out on her ass just like she did to me." Feeling as if she had finally said all that she needed to say, Santana took off out of the kitchen while her parents were left to figure out how they were going to handle their current situation.

Brittany was still talking to Mikey when she caught sight her girlfriend making her way towards them, and she could practically see the fumes of rage radiating off her body.

"I heard you yelling in there. Are you okay?"

Realizing that the blonde had been watching her, Santana quickly wiped her face of all emotion but kept her alert eyes focused on the blonde, "Did you hear what we were talking about?"

"No, it was too muffled, and I tried my best to not eavesdrop."

"Good," Santana replied as she allowed herself to relax the slightest bit, "I'll be fine, by the way. I just need a minute."

Brittany gave her a worried look, but the accountant didn't notice since she had already moved her gaze to the little boy, giving him the best fake smile she could muster, "Thank you for keeping Brittany company while I was gone. Did she like your trick?" Santana glanced back up to the blonde as if she was looking for her to answer.

Figuring it was probably best to go along with the brunette's act for the time being, Brittany replied, "Yeah, it was amazing. I told him he should keep practicing really hard so he can grow up to be a master magician one day."

"That's exactly what I said when he first showed it to me," the Latina returned with a small smile as she slipped her hand into the blonde's and allowed her self to be taken over by Brittany's overwhelming sense of calm.

* * *

After taking some time to catch up with her family, Santana eventually found her way over to the couch where Brittany and one of her cousins were carrying on a conversation.

"Excuse me, Miss. Is this seat taken?" Santana asked, motioning to the blonde's lap.

"Nope, I've actually been saving it all night for just the right person to come along," Brittany said as she lifted her arms to help the girl sit down.

The three women continued talking for a little while until Maribel announced that it was time to open presents. Feeling Brittany remove her arms from around her waist, Santana snapped her eyes over to the blonde, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Aren't you going to go sit in an actual chair to open your gifts?"

"No way! I have the best seat in the house," Santana said with a grin, which grew even wider after feeling her girlfriend's arms securing themselves around her once more.

"What my birthday girl wants, my birthday girl gets."

"Damn right, I do."

The pair sat patiently while Maribel and Carlos piled cards and gifts at their feet. After her parents were done, they went to go take their seats directly across from the girls and gave Santana the okay to get started. Following the Lopez family tradition, she grabbed the stack of cards to open first and then moved on to her wrapped gifts.

Picking up the first present, she plucked the card off the top and began reading it. Seeing that it was from her parents, she curiously started removing the gift wrap from around the thin, square package. As soon as the present was revealed, however, Santana slapped her hand over her eyes and let out a sigh, "Wow, Dad. I bet you feel real clever right now, don't you?"

Trying to peak out from around the girl's shoulder, Brittany asked, "What is it, San?"

"It's a damn Carlos Santana album because my father over there is trying to be a little smart ass," she said, pointing over to the man sporting a shit eating grin across the room.

The blonde was just about to ask who that even was when the room erupted with laughter since almost everyone else in the room was in on the joke.

"What? We can't let you forget where you get your name from, Santanita," the man replied smugly.

"How could I forget? My name is Santana, and I have a father named Carlos. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that he is your favorite musician of all time. I would literally have to be trying for it to slip my mind, which brings up the question yet again of how the hell you convinced Mom to sacrifice her only child to be the butt of every joke at all our family gatherings, including my own damn birthday party," Santana shot back in a huff.

"Oh, please. The answer to that question is easy. I just promised to make her dinner every night for a month, and she caved."

The Latina snapped her eyes over to the woman sitting beside her father, "Mom! Are you freaking kidding me?"

"What can I say? He's a really good cook," Maribel stated with a shrug. "Anyways, there's also some money we slipped inside, so don't forget to put that with the rest of your stash."

Letting out a frustrated groan, Santana retrieved the hidden hundred dollar bill and twisted around to face Brittany, "Looks like I have another deposit for Pierce Bank and Trust."

Releasing her arms from around the brunette's waist, Brittany took the cash and placed it in the designated envelope lying between her and the arm of the couch. Once she was done, she glanced up to find Santana looking at her expectantly, "Yes, ma'am?"

"The birthday girl would like to close her transaction, now, please."

"Oh, I am so sorry, Ms. Lopez. I'll be sure to take care of that for you right away," Brittany chuckled as she leaned up to give her a small peck on the lips. Santana sent the blonde a small wink and went to pick the next present to open when she felt Brittany lean in to whisper, "Mine is the one with the penguin wrapping paper."

Getting the hint, Santana picked up the package and unwrapped it to find a medium-sized box. Lifting up the lid, she found two framed copies of the pseudo-family portrait she and Brittany had taken with Lord Tubbington one night as a joke. Lifting the frames up slightly, Santana also found what looked to be some sort of hand-made coupon book lying underneath.

Sensing that the brunette was a little confused by her gift, Brittany said, "Since you sent me two sets of flowers for our anniversary, I figured I would kind of do the same thing and give you two pictures of all of us for you to keep at both work and home. Oh, and that's a coupon book full of special deals you can cash in at any time."

Santana let out a loud laugh as she picked up the booklet eagerly started flicking through her coupons, finding ones for home-cooked meals, back rubs, foot massages, and so on. Some of them were sweet, like loading the dishwasher for her since Brittany knew how much she hated having to touch dirty dishes. Others were silly, like the one she found for free Sweet Lady Kisses, which even included a little 'times infinity' symbol to show that it wouldn't expire.

"That one's probably my favorite," Brittany giggled quietly into her ear as she watched her girlfriend examining the coupon.

"Yeah, I think I might have to hand this one in asap."

"Good. I can't wait," Brittany replied as she gave her a peck on the cheek before leaning back so Santana could finish opening her gifts.

* * *

After saying good-bye to the last of her guests, Santana went in search of the blonde. Hearing the clanging of pots coming from the kitchen, she walked in to find Brittany helping her grandmother clean by loading the dishwasher while the older woman wiped off the table with a damp washcloth. She had just realized that Brittany was in the middle of a telling a story when a sudden laughter began filling the room, but it wasn't the blonde's light, cheery laugh that she heard.

"That's my Santanita for you. She's always been a bit of a klutz," Alma said between chuckles.

Completely floored by the exchanged, Santana decided to make her presence known, "Hey, Britt. Everything okay in here?"

The blonde spun around with a big grin on her face, "Yeah, San. I was just telling your grandmother about the time that dog tripped you while we were walking in the park."

Losing focus for a moment, Santana replied, "Oh, God. That damn thing came out of nowhere and went straight for my legs. He's lucky I didn't break anything."

"Please, like you could have actually done anything," Brittany retorted before turning her attention back to the older woman, "Before she even had the chance to rollover, the dog was standing over her and licking her face like crazy."

"Yeah, and you didn't even come to help save me, Jerk."

Brittany flicked her eyes over to her girlfriend, "How could I? I think you forget that I was on the ground, too."

"Only because you were laughing so hard."

"Well, I can't really deny that so I guess you win this time," Brittany agreed with a smirk as she slid in the machine's lower rack and shut the dishwasher door. Finding that there was nothing left to help Alma with, she made her way over to the brunette, "I'm going to go get everything ready for bed. See you up there in a bit." Receiving a nod from Santana, she gently placed a light kiss to Santana's temple and turned back toward the other woman, "It was nice talking to you, Mrs. Lopez. Good night."

"Good night, Brittany."

Santana watched the blonde retreat out of the room before hearing her grandmother speak up, "She's a really nice girl, Santana. It appears you've done pretty well for yourself."

This caused the accountant to snap her eyes over to the older woman, "You think so?"

"Yes, I like her a lot."

"You do?"

"I do," Alma confirmed, adding, "Santanita, I know that the past several years haven't been the best for us, but I swear I'm doing my best to change. Regardless of how I feel or don't feel though, it's clear that she really cares for you."

"She does, and I do my absolute best to show her the same," Santana said in a determined tone.

"As you should. Look, I know it may be a little soon to ask this of you, but I'd love to have both you over for lunch sometime before you leave if you are comfortable with it."

After taking a moment to consider the offer, Santana decided to answer truthfully, "I don't know if I can do that just yet. I think I'll need a couple of days to think about it, and then I would have to talk to Britt and see how she feels."

Her grandmother gave a few quick nods, "Okay, that's fine. Take as much time as you need."

"Alright, well, I better head up and see what Britt's up to. Knowing her, she's probably already gone to sleep without me," Santana lied with a fake laugh as she tried to ignore the tears that were starting to prick at her eyes. She knew the blonde would still be up waiting for her, but she really needed to get out of there before she completely lost her composure. Bidding her grandmother good night, Santana rushed out of the room and practically ran up the stairs towards her bedroom as she felt her strong act begin to falter. Walking into the room, she closed the door and took a minute to try to calm herself before she faced the other girl.

Suddenly, Brittany's voice called out from behind her, "Hey, Babe, I laid out some clothes for you. I didn't know if you would want a bath or not, so I haven't run the water yet. Would you like for me to go do that or-?"

Turning around, Santana walked directly up to the blonde, and without a word, she pulled her into a searing kiss as she felt the first few tears start to fall. Pulling away slightly, the Latina buried her face into the blonde's shoulder, "I love you. I love you so much."

"I-I love you, too, San," Brittany returned despite being confused by her girlfriend's actions.

"Abuela said she likes you. I should have known she would. It's impossible not to like you," Santana said with a small quiver in her voice.

"San? San, Baby, are you crying?" Brittany asked as she tried to pull away to look at the girl, but Santana just clung tighter to her.

"No, don't go. Just- Can we just stand here for a minute? Please," Santana plead.

"Yeah, of course we can," Brittany said as she wrapped her arms back around the Latina.

"Okay, good. I think I just need to be still and let this really sink in, you know? She-she said she likes you, and she seems to accept us," Santana mumbled. That's when she realized something and pulled away to look up at the other girl, "How did you end up in the kitchen with her? She didn't come in there to talk to you, did she? Because she was supposed to leave you alone."

Brittany shook her head, "No, I saw her having to use a chair to put up some of the dishes while she was unloading them, and I offered to take care of them for her since I could reach the higher shelves. You aren't mad, are you?"

"No, Britt. I don't think I could be mad at you even if I tried."

"Good because I was afraid you would since you told me to stay away from her, but I also didn't want her to fall and hurt herself," Brittany replied in a relieved tone.

"Which is yet another reason why I have the world's smartest girlfriend," Santana said with a small smile before her expression became more serious. "I'm sorry for being so overprotective tonight. I was just caught off guard and got scared. I didn't want her to do anything to hurt you."

"San, it's okay. From what I can gather, she has already done something that really hurt you so you have every right to be cautious. Thank you for watching out for me while also trying to protect yourself."

"Always," Santana concluded. Feeling she wasn't ready to explain what happened between her and her grandmother just yet, she changed the subject, "She asked if we wanted to join her for lunch before we leave."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't know. A lot has happened today, and I haven't really had time to sort out all my feelings yet."

Brittany reached up to caress the Latina's cheek, "Well, there's still a few days left so you have time. There's no need to rush into anything you're not ready for, okay?"

"Okay," Santana answered with a nod.

"Alright, well, how about you go get changed so we can go to bed? I'm exhausted."

It wasn't long before Santana was curled up against Brittany's side with her head on her chest. For the past five minutes, she had been lying there, contemplating whether or not she should go through what she was about to do before finally finding the courage to speak up, "Hey, Britt, do you mind if I tell you a story?"

"Like a bedtime story?" Brittany asked as she looked down at the girl.

"Yeah, sure."

"Of course you can. I love bedtime stories!"

Santana swallowed thickly as she prepared herself to start, "Okay, well, uh, once upon a time, there was this unicorn that had all the characteristics of a normal unicorn. She looked like a unicorn and even walked and talked like a unicorn, but somewhere deep down inside, she knew that she wasn't like any of the other unicorns."

"Why not?" Brittany inquired as she slowly traced her fingertips up and down the tan arm curled around her torso.

The accountant briefly smiled at the tickling sensation she felt before continuing, "Because no matter how hard she tried, she could never fall in love with another unicorn. She saw her mom and dad, her friends, and all the other unicorns around her experiencing love, but she didn't understand why she couldn't. She tried and she tried and she tried, but no matter how much effort she put into loving another unicorn, it just never worked. Then one day, the unicorn went down from the clouds to spend the day on Earth to try to get her mind off of all her confusion. Before she knew it, she found herself standing in front of the Arctic Ocean, looking out at the icy blue water. That was when she saw a narwhal for the first time, and everything just clicked. The reason she didn't ever have feelings for another unicorn was because she was meant to love narwhals, and for the first time in her life, she felt like she was her whole self."

"Did she fall in love with the narwhal?" Brittany questioned, pulling Santana back to the present.

"No, she didn't, Britt," Santana said, shaking her head sadly, "The unicorn couldn't accept her love for narwhals, so she rejected it. She shoved it way down deep inside of herself in hopes that it would never show itself again. She continued dating other unicorns and pretending that she was just like everybody else. Eventually, this caused her to become cold and bitter towards all the unicorns around her, and before she knew it, she had completely shut everyone out."

"San, I don't like this story."

"Don't worry, B. It gets better. I promise," she said as she hugged the blonde a little closer. "So years go by, and she works her way up the unicorn social pyramid using vicious words and undermined tactics. The only problem was that it was extremely lonely at the top. By the end of high scho- I mean, by the time she was ready to leave her parents and go out on her own, she had had enough of living the way she did and decided to finally do something about it. She started leaving the clouds to visit Earth more so she could start opening herself up to interacting with the narwhals. Nothing major, of course. Just holding conversations with them and testing the waters a bit. No pun intended," Santana joked to lighten the mood. After hearing the blonde let out a small giggle, she continued, "She started being truthful to herself and all the unicorns around her about her loving narwhals, and despite having some unicorns very close to her refuse to accept her, most of her family and friends understood and didn't treat her any differently than before. Now, here's the best part."

"Yeah?" Brittany questioned eagerly.

"Well, one day, the unicorn was just going about her normal everyday life on Earth when the most beautiful narwhal she had ever seen came swimming past her, and she knew she just had to talk to her. The pair hit it off right way, and for the first time in her life, the unicorn understood what it felt like to be in love."

"Is that how the unicorn and narwhal from my story met?"

After thinking for a moment, Santana gave her a small nod, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Do they end up together?"

"I don't know. That part of the story hasn't been written yet."

"Well, I hope they do," Brittany replied with a yawn.

"Me too, B."

A short silence passed between the girls, and Santana was starting to think Brittany had fallen asleep when she heard, "Thank you for sharing your story with me, San."

Knowing she had figured out the truth, Santana slid herself a little closer to the blonde and snuggled further into her side, "You're welcome. Good night."

"Good night. Love you," Brittany mumbled out, already half-asleep.

"I love you, too, Britt-Britt."

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_I'd like to say thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites since the last chapter. I really appreciate it. I also hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all next time!_


	16. Almuerzo con Alma

"Hey, are you almost done? She only has about an hour left before she has to leave for work," Santana called out as she made her way over to her ensuite bathroom, where she found Brittany brushing her teeth. Walking across the room, she slipped her arms around the blonde's waist, hugging her from behind as she watched the girl's reflection in the mirror.

Brittany instantly made an attempt to say something, but when the statement came out garbled and unintelligible, Santana was forced to reply, "Babe, you know I can't understand you when you talk while brushing your teeth. How about you spit out the toothpaste and try again?"

Following her girlfriend's suggestion, Brittany took a brief moment to rid her mouth of the foamy white substance, repeating, "I said that I was almost done."

While Brittany rinsed her mouth and ran her toothbrush under the faucet, Santana joked, "You know, I don't think he's really going to care all that much about whether or not your pearly whites are minty fresh."

Spinning around to face the brunette, Brittany wrapped her own arms around Santana's neck. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I wasn't brushing them for him then," she commented as she leaned in for their good morning kiss.

Just before their lips could meet, Santana managed to lean back slightly out of reach, "No way, Britt. Unlike you, I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

"I don't care," Brittany said as she pulled Santana closer and tried again, but her efforts were still to no avail since Santana simply turned her head to the side.

"You apparently cared enough to brush yours," Santana argued as she fought back a smile.

"Well, you were already out of bed when I woke up so I thought I'd take a minute to freshen up a bit."

"And what if I said that I wanted to do the same?"

"Then, I'd say that there's really no need," Brittany answered with a playful smirk before transforming it into a pout. "Come on, please?"

"No way, B. You'll just have to wait until after I brush my teeth, too. Fair is fair, after all," Santana teased as she released her hold on Brittany and took a step away. "I'm going to go get my computer ready while you call and explain everything, okay?"

"Yeah, but don't leave yet," Brittany said before quickly turning to grab Santana's toothbrush, apply some toothpaste, and run it under the faucet. Spinning back around, she handed it over and gave her girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek before saying, "Alright, you can go now."

"Okay, see you in a minute," Santana responded with a laugh, sticking the toothbrush into her mouth as she exited the bathroom once more in search of her laptop.

She had just sat down on the living room couch and turned on the computer after returning her toothbrush to the bathroom when she saw Brittany walk into the room with her cell phone held up to her ear, already in the middle of a conversation.

"You remember where I told you I left my laptop, right? Yeah, it should just be out on my desk. Great, so you just have to hit the power button, and it should turn on. Let me know when you're ready." Brittany looked over to Santana and gave her a warm smile while she waited. Once she was given the okay, she shifted her attention back to her directions, "Alright, my password is U-N-I-" Suddenly realizing what she was saying, Brittany's eyes flashed back toward Santana as she was overcome by an overwhelming wave of bashfulness, "C-O-R-N."

Spelling the word out in her head, Santana quirked an eyebrow and mouthed out, "Unicorn?"

Brittany tried to give an indifferent shrug, but the deep blush lining her cheeks immediately gave away her embarrassment of the situation. Knowing the brunette saw right through her act, she turned around so she wouldn't have to watch Santana laughing at her and continued with her instructions, "Anyways, it'll automatically log me into Skype at start up so all you should have to do is to double click on the Skype icon to pull it up. You got it? Awesome, see you soon." Hanging up the phone, she turned back towards her girlfriend, "Alright, she's logged on. Go ahead and send the call."

Instead of doing what she said, Santana shot the blonde a knowing smirk, "Oh, so we're just going to act like that didn't happen?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, really?"

"Look, I just really like unicorns, okay? Anything else that this could be interpreted as is just sheer coincidence. Now, are you going to send that call or not?" Brittany asked, but the nervous look in her eyes told Santana that she was really just trying to distract her from her current line of thought.

Knowing she had won this time, Santana quickly clicked the call button, "Consider it sent."

Less than a second later, they heard the person they had been expecting suddenly speak up, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

Darting over to the couch, Brittany quickly took a seat right next to Santana so she could see the woman on the computer screen, "Yeah, Patty, we can hear you. How's my little man this morning?"

"He's good. Want me to put him on?"

"Yes, please!"

Patricia gave a small nod and placed the laptop on the couch to reveal a sleeping Lord Tubbington curled up in a ball on the far cushion.

"Hey, LT! Good morning!" Brittany greeted excitedly as waved at the cat on the computer screen. Hearing the blonde's voice, he looked up with a curious expression. After gazing at Brittany for a minute or so, he picked himself up to inspect the box that appeared to be holding his missing owner. Watching him sniffing the screen, she asked, "Aw, do you miss us, Buddy? I'm sorry we've been gone for so long, but I promise we'll be home soon, okay?"

"Hey, B, you should show him what we found the other day? That might help him feel a little better," Santana suggested as she looked over to Brittany.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, that thing we bought him," Santana tried, but since Brittany was still giving her the same blank stare, she decided to literally spell it out for her, "The T-O-Y M-O-U-"

The brunette was just about to say the next letter when she was suddenly cut off by Brittany slapping a hand over the other her mouth, "San, you know Lord Tubbington can spell!"

Suppressing a smile, Santana pulled the girl's hand away from her face, "Well, do you know what I was trying to say now?"

"Yes, and I'll be right back," Brittany answered excitedly before pushing herself off the couch and sprinting up the stairs toward Santana's bedroom.

As soon as the blonde was out of earshot, Santana spoke up a little louder so the older woman on the other side of the computer could hear her, "Thanks for doing this, Patty. Britt's been talking nonstop about how much she's missed him since we left."

After waiting a moment, Santana heard Patricia's distant voice respond from the kitchen, "Oh, it's no problem at all. I'm actually a little surprised she hadn't thought to ask me sooner."

"Yeah, well I may or may not have assisted in putting the thought in her head after she found this gift for him. Sorry if it becomes a frequent request from now on."

"Santana, you worry too much. It's really nothing," Patricia chastised.

Just as the Latina went to reply to the woman, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs and glanced over her shoulder to find Brittany holding a small plastic bag with a giddy grin.

"Hey, Lord T, look what San and I found for you," Brittany called out, reaching into the bag as she sat back down and pulled out a mechanical toy mouse. Moving in front of the webcam, she held it out for the cat to see, "See, there's this little switch underneath that causes it to roll across the floor and make a bunch of little noises. Isn't that cool?"

Despite still being concerned about seeing Brittany on the computer, Lord Tubbington showed a little interest his new toy, taking a moment to try to sniff and paw at it through the screen.

Brittany quickly looked over to Santana, "Do you think that means he likes it?"

"Yeah, I think so," Santana answered, watching Brittany's face break into a satisfied grin.

Suddenly, Patricia reappeared right behind Lord Tubbington, "Hey, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I really have to get to work. Lord only knows what would happen if Chris didn't have me there to help start his day," she commented, earning a laugh from Brittany who knew exactly what she meant.

"Okay, that's fine. Tell everyone at the office I said hello," Brittany replied.

"Okay, I'll be sure to do that," Patricia confirmed before looking down at the cat, "Tell Brittany bye, Lord Tubbington."

Brittany immediately started waving at the cat, "Bye, LT! See you soon!"

"Bye, Tubbs," Santana added with her own small wave before ending the chat. After logging out of Skype and closing her computer, she glanced over to Brittany, "Well, that was pretty fun, even if it wasn't for very long."

"Yeah, I just can't wait to get back home to see him."

"Well, we only have two days left so you won't have to wait that much longer."

Brittany gave a nod before remembering something she had been meaning to bring up, "Speaking of which, have you given any more thought about us going over to your grandmother's house before we leave?"

"Maybe a little, but," Santana trailed off momentarily before finishing, "I don't know. It just feels weird for me to even consider doing something like that, you know?"

"Well, we definitely don't have to do anything that you're not comfortable with, but I think taking your grandmother up on her offer to join her for lunch could possibly be a step in the right direction for you. If anything, it might help give you a little closure. Of course, that's just my opinion. At the end of the day, you'll be the one to decide what's best for you," Brittany explained.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just worried about getting hurt again. I mean, what if she-?"

"I won't let her do anything to you, Santana. I'll be right there by your side the entire time to make sure nothing bad happens," Brittany cut in with a determined tone and raised her pinky toward the girl, "I promise."

Santana sat there for a moment contemplating the pros and cons of the situation, but she finally decided that it was time to follow to Brittany's advice and stop listening to that little voice of doubt in her head. Slipping her pinky around the blonde's, she replied, "Okay, I'll call her tonight."

"Good," Brittany said before leaning in to claim Santana's lips, catching her completely by surprise. Letting out a satisfied hum, she pulled away from the kiss with a triumphant grin spread across her face, "It's about time I got my good morning kiss. I think I'm going to need one more, though."

Watching the blonde start to lean in again, Santana quickly threw her hands up to the blonde's shoulders to keep her from coming any closer as she let out a chuckle, "Britt, you know 'one more' doesn't ever really mean just one more with you. It means at least ten more, and I still have to go switch over that load of clothes we started last night."

"The clothes can wait," Brittany said as she slowly pulled Santana's arms away and leaned forward to trail kisses up her jawline.

"B, they're going to start to smell if we don't put them in the dryer soon," Santana argued unconvincingly as she let her eyes flutter shut.

"Then, I'll rewash them."

"But-but…"

Brittany pulled back to look at her with a smirk, "But what, Babe?"

Letting out a defeated groan, Santana let a small smile appear on her face, answering, "Nothing. Just keep those wandering hands of yours where I can see them, okay?"

"I'll do my best," Brittany offered as she moved towards the Latina once more, meeting her lips halfway. It wasn't long, however, before her fingers started inching their way under Santana's shirt.

Pulling away abruptly, Santana shot the girl a pointed look, "I'm being serious, Britt. Do you not remember the last time your hands got a little curious?"

"And you jumped back so fast that you fell off the bed? How could I forget?" Brittany asked as she let out a loud round of laughter at the memory.

"Hey, don't make fun of me!"

"I'm not. It's just that you would have thought I had electrocuted you with the way you reacted," she said, laughing once more.

"Okay, well I guess you won't be needing any more kisses from me then since you seem to be having more fun laughing at my expense," Santana said as she started to push herself off the couch, only to have Brittany wrap an arm around her waist to stop her in her tracks.

"No, wait. I'm sorry. I'll play nice. I promise."

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure I can survive a lot longer without Sweet Lady Kisses than you can."

"Yes, I swear. Please," Brittany begged with her best pout, knowing that Santana was a complete sucker for it.

"Fine, but consider this your one warning," Santana teased as she pushed herself up to whisper in her ear, "Keep your hands above the hip and below the bust, got it?"

"Y-yes," Brittany stuttered out quietly, feeling a chill run down her spine form Santana's warm breath tickling her ear.

Leaning back slightly, Santana asked, "What was that, Baby? I couldn't hear you."

"Yes, San, I understand," she managed to say a little louder.

"Good girl," Santana praised as she pulled her girlfriend into a heated kiss.

* * *

It had been a little over eight years since Santana had been to her grandmother's house, and everything was starting to feel extremely surreal for the Latina now that she was standing on the doorstep. She had been a bundle of nerves all morning, which only got worse as their pending lunch date with Alma grew closer. Now that Santana was there, all she wanted to do was run away and never return.

Suddenly, Santana felt Brittany lightly bump into her side to get her attention. Glancing over at the blonde, Brittany gave her an encouraging smile, "It's okay, San. You can do this."

Returning the gesture with a firm nod, Santana looked back at the front door and raised her hand to ring the doorbell. Before she could reach it, however, her hand froze.

After a few seconds of waiting, Brittany gave the hand she was holding a tight squeeze and whispered, "Remember what I told you, San. I'm not going anywhere."

Nodding once more, Santana finally found the courage to press the button.

As soon as the door opened, they saw Alma standing there with a smile, "Bienvenidos, chicas. Por favor, entren."

Seeing the curious look on her girlfriend's face, Santana placed a comforting hand on the small of her back, "She's just inviting us inside."

"Oh, okay," the blonde said before looking back up to the older woman. "Um, gracias?" Brittany replied, peeking back over to her girlfriend as if she wasn't sure of her answer.

Santana's face suddenly cracked into a proud grin as she gave her a firm nod, knowing Brittany was unintentionally making her feel a little more at ease. After watching the blonde return the smile, she turned to face her grandmother, "Abuela, Britt doesn't really know much Spanish so can we try to keep it to a minimum?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said before shifting her attention to the blonde, "Please, don't be afraid to remind me if I accidentally say something you don't understand."

"Okay, thank you," Brittany replied.

Stepping over the threshold was like taking a step back in time for Santana. So much so, in fact, that it was almost as if it were a dream. She could still remember watching novelas with her grandmother in the living room whenever she had to stay home sick from school, racing her cousins to the kitchen in hopes of being the first in line for Christmas dinner back when they were kids, and the memories connected to the object she was staring at now, the dining room table where she and her abuela had their last conversation before the older woman told her to leave and never come back, which Santana had heeded all the way up until that day.

Unaware of her granddaughter's sudden inner turmoil, Alma walked over to the table to pull out a chair for each of the girls and motioned towards the food, "Siéntense, siéntense! La comida se está enfriando."

Snapping out of her daze, Santana looked over at the woman to remind her, "Abuela, English please."

Alma slapped a hand to her forehead out of frustration for forgetting once again, "Sorry, Brittany. I was just trying to tell you that the food was getting cold. Please, have a seat."

Finally taking the time to get a good look at the meal, Santana's face lit up, causing her to forget about her thoughts from a few moments prior, "Oh my God, you didn't!"

"I sure did," Alma confirmed as she started serving the food. Taking her seat, the older woman watched as the girls started to eat.

After tasting her first bite, Brittany gave a satisfied hum, "Wow, what is this?"

"Fricasé de Pollo. It was Santanita's favorite growing up."

"Still is," Santana replied as she continued to dig in.

"And I can see why. It's delicious."

"Well, I could give you two the recipe if you'd like," the older woman offered as she cautiously glanced at her granddaughter to see if that was okay.

"Yeah, I think Britt would like that, wouldn't you, B?"

"Yes, of course! Thank you," Brittany said, clearly ecstatic over the recent development.

"You're welcome. Just remind me before you leave, and I'll go write it down."

"Yes, ma'am."

Glancing back over to Santana, Alma commented, "So, Maribel told me you're working as an accountant. How's that going?"

"It's good. I really enjoy it."

"Good, good," Alma said before looking over to the blonde to ask, "And what is it that you do, Brittany?"

"I'm an advertising executive."

"Oh, well that sounds interesting. Santanita's abuelo used to work in the marketing business. It wasn't always easy, but he absolutely loved it."

"Yeah, I completely understand why he would. I'm more on the creative side of things, but it's definitely a fulfilling occupation."

Suddenly, a small smile appeared on Alma's face, "That's what he always used to say."

* * *

The rest of lunch passed by without a hitch, though it was mostly due to Brittany's innate ability to keep the conversation flowing. If it weren't for the blonde actively working to keep her talking, Santana would have most likely just sat there without saying anything except short, one word answers. Regardless, time seemed to pass quickly between the three women, and before they knew it, it was well into the afternoon.

After realizing how late it had gotten, Santana suggested that it was probably about time they head home and stood up to gather her things.

Walking them to the door, Alma was abruptly caught off-guard as Brittany wrapped her up in a warm embrace, "Thank you so much again, Mrs. Lopez. You're an amazing cook, and I can't wait to try your recipe at home."

"Oh, you're, um, you're welcome, Brittany," Alma said as she carefully brought her arms up to lightly return the gesture, giving an unsure glance to gauge Santana's reaction. Seeing that the she seemed okay with the exchange, Alma tightened her hold on the girl to make her embrace feel more sincere, "Let me know how it turns out, okay?"

"Okay!" Brittany exclaimed as she pulled out of the hug, allowing the woman to address her granddaughter.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Santanita. I'm really glad you decided to come."

Taken a little by surprise, the brunette replied, "Uh, y-yeah, no problem. Thank you for lunch."

"Anytime. Feel free to stop by next time you're in town."

"Yeah, okay," Santana replied. After waiting a beat, she added, "Alright, well I guess I'll see you around, Abuela." Not wanting their good-bye to get any more awkward, Santana gave her a small wave and took Brittany's hand to lead her to the car, only releasing it once they reached edge of the walkway so they could each get seated.

Before the blonde was able to fully step into the car, however, she heard Alma called out "Oh, and Brittany."

Brittany immediately stood back up between the car and its door so she could see her, "Yes, ma'am?"

"Please, call me Alma."

Brittany gave the woman a bright smile, "Alright! Bye, Alma."

"Bye," she returned with her own smile and a small wave as the girl took her seat inside the car and shut the door.

"Well, it looks like yet another Lopez has been captured by the Brittany Pierce charm," Santana announced as soon as they had backed out of the driveway.

Brittany rolled her eyes, "Whatever, San. By the way, can I ask you something?"

"Always, B."

"Okay, do you think you could start giving me Spanish lessons?"

"Britt, you don't have to learn Spanish. My entire family knows English for a reason, so please don't worry about it."

"I know, but I want to be able to keep up with the conversation without them having to stop and translate every time I'm around."

Realizing that Brittany was being serious about her request, Santana couldn't find it in her to tell her no and instead answered, "Alright, sure. We can do that if it's what you really want. Thank you for coming with me, by the way. You have no idea how much having you there today means to me."

"Well, there's nowhere else I'd rather be," Brittany replied as she reached over to tap Santana's hand to tell her that she wanted to hold it. Watching the Latina tighten her grip on the gearshift, Brittany started trying to wedge her hand between the two, only causing Santana to grip it harder, "Hey, I want to hold your hand." Looking up to her girlfriend, Brittany watched as a knowing grin made its way across her face as she gave her a small shrug.

"Bet you regret getting handsy again yesterday after we had our little agreement, now, don't you?"

"Oh, come on. You've been holding my hand all day."

"That's only because I just remembered you were on probation."

"Oh, whatever," Brittany huffed out as she crossed her arms across her chest. After sitting there for a minute, an idea popped into her head, "Fine, well guess who just earned herself a round of Britt-Britt Attack Kisses when we get back to the house."

Feeling her demeanor do a one-eighty, Santana nervously shot a quick look at the blonde before darting her eyes back to watch the road, "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

Letting out a sigh, Santana released her hold on the shifter so Brittany could hold it, mumbling a quiet, "Jerk."

"Thanks, Babe," Brittany replied cheekily as she lifted their joined hands to her lips, giving the back of Santana's hand a small peck before resting them on the center console.

"Yeah, yeah," Santana said without even trying to fight back the smile on her face as she added, "By the way, my computer's password is narwhal, so you're not alone in your cheesiness."

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Thank you so much for reading._

_I just wanted to start off by apologizing for the wait. I recently started my summer course for college, and it's basically taken over my life, unfortunately. That being said, I'm going to do my absolute best to get the next chapter posted as soon as I can, but I can't promise when exactly that will be._

_I would also like to announce that we have reached the final homestretch. There are will be two more chapters followed by a two-part epilogue, just in case you were wondering. I also have a couple of surprises coming up soon, so feel free to stay tuned for those._

_Anyways, thank you all so much again for your time and patience. I hope to see you all again next time!_


	17. Good Morning

"Damn, that was ass long drive," Santana mumbled out as soon as they walked into Brittany's apartment, dropping the bags she had helped carry up by the door and immediately fell onto the couch.

"Actually, I didn't think it was too bad," Brittany mentioned with a small chuckle as she put down the bags she had been holding, as well.

"Yeah, because you slept for over half the trip."

"True, but that just makes me all the more rested to make you dinner," she teased as she crouched down next to the brunette, combing a hand through her hair as she suggested, "How about you go get changed into something more comfortable while I cook something up for us to eat, huh?"

"That sounds absolutely perfect, Babe. Would it be okay if I borrow some of your clothes though since all my stuff is still in the car? I really don't feel like walking all the way back down there again."

"Yeah, of course. Help yourself."

"Okay, second drawer from the top, right?" Santana asked as she moved to push herself off the couch.

"Right," Brittany confirmed, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before standing back up to head to the kitchen.

While Brittany got started on dinner, Santana made her way to her room, opening up the drawer to grab a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before pulling one of the blonde's hoodies out of the closet. Once she was changed, Santana made her way back to find the other woman setting up a pot of water to boil on the stove top.

"I can take over if you'd like to go change, too," she offered.

"Oh, don't worry about it, San. I'm almost done setting up everything so why don't you go ahead and pick out a movie for us to watch."

"Okay, any preferences?"

"Nope, your choice."

"Alright, well I'll be in there if you need anything," Santana said, motioning to the living room.

"And I'll be in here if _you_ need anything," Brittany sent back with a playful wink, eliciting a laugh from the brunette.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Santana joked as she turned to leave.

Making her way out of the kitchen about fifteen minutes later, Brittany found Santana sitting on the couch petting the large cat curled up on her lap.

"You know, I think you've been a good influence on him," Brittany announced as she made her way over to sit next to the Latina.

Resting her head against the blonde's shoulder, Santana curiously asked, "How so?"

"Well, he's been staying out of trouble and hasn't smoked a cigar in months. It's been amazing!" she answered excitedly as she reached over to give the cat a quick scratch behind the ears, "Isn't that right, Lord T?"

"Aw, that's awesome, Tubbs! I'm glad that pep talk I gave you about how I almost joined a Lima Heights gang and used to smoke cigars in high school actually helped," Santana cheered with a laugh. Feeling Brittany's focus suddenly shift to her, Santana glanced up to find the blonde giving her a curious look and asked, "You know I'm just kidding, right?"

Brittany immediately let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, "Geez, San. What have I told you about acting serious while you're joking? You know I can't tell the difference."

"Well, good. You need to get a taste of your own medicine every once in a while."

"Whatever," Brittany said with an exaggerated eye-roll before pulling her lips back into a mischievous grin, "By the way, I see you finally decided to wear my shorts."

Santana quickly glanced down at the short shorts that she was wearing and shifted her gaze back to the blonde to give her a shrug in an attempt to appear indifferent about the situation, "Yeah, I figured I'd wear them for you since you were kind enough to cook me dinner."

"Hm, I guess I'm going to have to cook for you more often then," the blonde suggested as she pressed a kiss to the girl's temple, holding her lips there for a moment before suddenly blowing a raspberry on the spot.

Letting out a loud laugh, Santana pushed the blonde away with one hand while she used the other to wipe the side of her face, "Brittany, you little jerk!"

"Yeah, but at least I'm your little jerk."

"Damn right you are," the Latina confirmed with a cheeky grin. "So, when's the food going to be ready?"

"We probably still have a few minutes before it's done. Did you have any luck picking out a movie?"

Santana nodded sheepishly without a word.

"Um, alright. Where is it?" Brittany asked as she looked around the room for some sort of clue. After waiting a minute for some sort of response, she noticed Santana point over to the movie lying on the coffee table. With a smirk spread across her face, she asked, "Happy Feet again?"

"Yeah, I mean, you know how much I love penguins, and the movie is… is…."

"Is..." Brittany teased, already knowing what her girlfriend was trying to say.

"It's kind of my…"

"Your what?"

"It's my favorite movie, okay?" Santana blurted out as she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Aw, my little Sanny Fanny is so adorable when she's embarrassed," Brittany replied, giving Santana another quick kiss on the side of the head before the brunette had time to protest. Watching a look of distress overtake the girl's features, she added, "Don't worry, San. I'm just giving you a hard time," and got up to grab the movie so she could put it in the DVD player. Once the disk was loaded into the device, she spun around to ask, "So, would you like to me to get you a box of tissues now or later?"

"Don't you have some food to be tending to or something?" Santana grumbled as she fought to hide her ever-growing embarrassment.

"Oh, yeah! It should be done by now. I'll go make us a couple of plates real fast so just hang tight."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come help?"

"Nope, you just sit there and relax. I'll be back in no time."

Sticking to her word, Brittany made it back to the living room a few minutes later with their dinner, noticing that Lord Tubbington had already transferred himself to his favorite spot on the floor. Handing a plate off to Santana, she took a seat beside her and leaned over to grab the remote off the end table.

"Wow, Britt, this spaghetti smells delicious."

"Yeah, well let's hope it tastes that way," she chucked as she started the movie.

After returning the remote to it's designated spot, the blonde glanced over to watch Santana twirling her fork to gather a bite's worth of the pasta and bring it up to her mouth, taking a moment to taste it before letting out a content hum.

"Any good?"

Giving her a quick closed lip smile, Santana covered her mouth to answer, "Perfect, as always, Babe. Thank you."

"Anytime," Brittany replied just before turning her attention to the television screen and taking a bite of her own.

It wasn't long before Brittany found herself completely engrossed in watching the movie, despite having seen it at least thirty times since starting her relationship with the girl seated beside her. In fact, she was so absorbed in the storyline that she almost didn't hear the small sniffling noise coming from beside her. Looking down at the girl who was now curled up against her, she found Santana attempting to discretely wipe her eyes.

"San, are you crying?"

"No," the Latina said in a strained voice, obviously lying.

That's when they heard Mumble suddenly say, _"Don't ask me to change, Pa, 'cause I can't,"_ causing Santana to completely lose it as she entered a fit of hysterics.

"Shit! Every damn time. I freaking hate this part," Santana groaned as she buried her face behind Brittany's shoulder and let out a few muffled sobs.

Allowing a light chuckle slip past her lips, Brittany turned her body sideways so she could pull Santana into her chest, rubbing her back as she calmly cooed into her ear, "Aw, it's okay, Baby. You're alright."

Once the brunette had stopped crying, Brittany cupped her face with her hands and lightly traced her thumbs under the girl's eyes to wipe away the tears. As soon as she was finished, she glanced up slightly to find Santana staring directly into her eyes and immediately froze. The couple sat there without moving for a moment before Santana suddenly leaned forward to take the blonde's lower lip between her own, pulling the girl into a passionate kiss.

Brittany's eyes initially grew wide out of shock until she finally grasped what was happening and allowed herself to fully commit to the kiss, wrapping her arms around the Latina to help her move onto her lap. It wasn't until she heard Santana quietly muttering her name against her lips a couple minutes later that she realized the brunette had been trying to get her attention.

Automatically assuming that she had somehow taken the kiss too far, Brittany pulled away with her hands held up in defense and plead, "Okay, alright. Hands off. I got it. Just please don't put me back on probation."

"Actually, I was going to suggest we take this elsewhere," Santana corrected with a sly smirk.

Brittany was about to respond further when the brunette's words caught up to her, causing her to sputter out, "Wait, what?"

"You know. You. Me. Your bedroom," Santana said as she started trailing kisses up her neck.

"Oh, um, why would you suggest that?"

Feeling Santana lips graze against the shell of her ear, she heard her quietly answer, "Because I don't want Tubbs to be able to see us when I let you get handsier than I normally do."

"Huh?" Brittany practically shouted as her eyes widened in shock.

Pulling away slightly, Santana looked into the blonde's eyes with a softened expression. "Well, I've been doing some thinking lately, and after finally starting to clear up stuff with Abuela, I think I'm ready to work on trusting people again, starting with you," she said, pressing their foreheads together as she whispered, "I trust you so very much, B."

"You mean-?"

"Mhmm," Santana quietly hummed out as they continued to stare into each other's eyes.

"But two days ago you-"

"Actually, that was just a precaution to ensure nothing happened until we got back. You almost made me crack, though," she admitted with a smirk, adding, "And after I tried so damn hard to distract you with our laundry. Limiting your hand range was the only thing I could think up on the fly to ensure our morning kisses wouldn't lead to something more."

"So, you knew this was going to happen the whole time?"

Moving a hand to the back of Brittany's neck, Santana started absentmindedly fiddling with the short, blonde hairs at the base of her head as she answered, "Not the whole time. Just within the few days following my birthday, but then I thought about how I really, really didn't want anything to happen while we were at my parent's house and decided to pull a tactic out of my Cheerio playbook."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"It's all about the teasing and not about the pleasing."

Brittany instantly jutted her bottom lip in a pout, "I don't think I like that plan very much."

"Well, good because I decided to modify it for us a bit. Now, it's a _little_ about the teasing and _ALL_ about the pleasing," Santana said as she pulled away, gripping the hem of the hoodie she was wearing so she could pull it up over her head.

"Oh crap," Brittany nervously blurted out, diverting her eyes away before she could notice that the shirt the Latina had been wearing underneath. Without looking away from the ceiling, she asked, "I thought you said you were tired."

"Well, I guess I got my second wind."

"Oh, okay, well um-"

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to get out of sexy times with me, but like I said, I already know better."

"Yeah, I know. I just understand that you've gone through a lot in the past couple of days, and I want to make sure that this is what you really want."

Dropping the teasing act, Santana let a small smile grace her lips as she pulled their bodies flush together. Resting her chin on the blonde's shoulder, she quietly replied, "And that's just one of the many reasons why I love you. You always take such good care of me, but I promise you this isn't something I decided on a whim. I've given it a lot of thought, and this is something I would really like to share with you, okay?"

"Okay, San."

Pulling away, Santana gazed into her bright blue eyes, searching for any signs of doubt, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Brittany confirmed breathlessly with the slightest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Okay, then please relax. It's just you and me so there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Well, other than getting me to your room before Lord Tubbington has a chance to see my hot bod," Santana joked to lighten the mood.

After sharing a brief laugh with the blonde, Santana felt her body being lifted as Brittany stood up, securely holding the Latina in her arms.

"Britt! I didn't mean that you should carry me there," Santana giggled out as she quickly tightened her hold around the other woman's neck to help brace herself.

"Well, this way is faster so just enjoy the ride," Brittany chuckled, lightly brushing her lips on the base of her neck before returning her focus to where they were going.

Taking a split second to consider her girlfriend's words, Santana simply buried her face into the girl's shoulder and replied with a simple, "Alright."

* * *

Santana had been feeling a tickling sensation on her face for as long as she could remember, causing her facial muscles to twitch as she started to float up towards consciousness. Moving to swat away whatever was bothering her, she felt her hand collide with something solid. Slowly opening her eyes, she realized that it was Brittany, who had been lightly tracing her face with her fingertips.

"Hey there, Creepy," Santana rasped out as a lazy grin made its way across her face.

Feigning offence, the blonde replied, "What? I'm not being creepy."

"Then, what exactly do you call watching me while I sleep?"

"Admiring your flawless beauty."

"Nice cover up, Babe," Santana said as she rolled off her back to give Brittany a good morning kiss before asking, "Did you sleep well?"

"The best."

"Good. I'm glad," she replied bashfully as she started scooting backwards across the mattress to step out of bed.

"Hey, wait. Where do you think you're going?"

"To go make my girl some breakfast," the brunette answered as she quickly slipped on her clothes and made her way towards the door.

"No, come back! Stay with me!" Brittany begged, reaching her arms up in the Santana's direction and started making a grabbing motion with her hands in hopes of enticing her into coming back bed.

"But Brittany, aren't you the one who said breakfast is the most important meal of the day?" Santana inquired with a challenging smirk.

There was a short pause before Brittany mumbled a reluctant, "Yeah."

"I guess it pays to be so informative, now, doesn't it?"

"Well, what if I changed my mind?"

"Too late. It's already been scientifically proven, and the last thing I want is for something bad to happen to your health and well-being."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you'd be hurting my well-being more by leaving. I was really looking forward to my morning cuddles with you," Brittany grumbled as she pulled the covers up under her chin grumpily.

"Well, at least you'll have your health, then," Santana teased as she made her way over to Brittany's side of the bed and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. Allowing her tone to become a little more serious, she offered, "We can have ourselves an all-day cuddle fest if you want. Just let me do this one little thing first, okay? I want to be the one taking care of you for a change."

"Technically, you already have," Brittany said with an over exaggerated wag of her eyebrows, earning her a scoff from the Latina.

"Really, Britt? You're going to take it there while I'm trying to have a serious moment with you?"

"Take it where?" Brittany asked, feigning innocence until she noticed the pointed look Santana was sending her. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. No more jokes, but you better follow through on your all-day cuddle promise."

"Psh, like I'd even think about skipping out on cuddles with the Cuddle Queen."

"Don't you mean the co-Cuddle Queen?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyways, I want you to just rest for now, and I'll let you know when I'm done," Santana negotiated. After receiving a nod in agreement, she stood back up and exited the room.

* * *

Santana was halfway through making breakfast when she noticed a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind. Feeling a warm nose nuzzle against her neck, she asked, "What are you doing up?"

"I got bored," the blonde muttered into her skin, waiting a beat before adding, "And I missed you."

"Aw, poor little Britt-Britt," Santana teased as she spun around in the blonde's arms, placing a hand on each side of her hips to pull her a little closer.

"I know, right? Maybe I should get another kiss from my girlfriend. I bet that would make me feel better."

"Oh, you think?"

"Definitely."

"Well, I guess you better hurry up and go find her then before you start feeling worse."

"San," Brittany whined with a pout.

"Aw, I'm just kidding, Baby. Come here," Santana cooed as she leaned in to lock lips with the other girl, tugging her even closer so she could deepen the kiss.

Suddenly finding herself in a heated make out session with the brunette, Brittany broke away to inform her, "I actually don't mind eating cold food if you want to put breakfast on hold for a bit."

Knowing exactly what she was trying to get at, Santana let out a laugh and said, "Not a chance, B. Food first."

"Aw, you're no fun."

"Yeah, yeah. So, would you like to do me a favor since your apparently bored?"

The blonde's face immediately took on a devilish grin, "Oh? What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Gosh, nothing like that. Now, can you please try to get that pretty, little head of yours out of the gutter?"

"I'll do my best, but no promises."

Santana let out a sigh, "Well, I guess that's the best I'm going to get right now. Anyways, what I was actually going to ask was if you could get us something to drink while I finish cooking?"

"Sure thing," Brittany replied, dropping her hold on the woman so she could walk over to the cabinet to get a glass and coffee mug. Noticing a pot of coffee already brewed, she said, "I see you found the coffee I bought you. Did I get the right kind?"

"Oh, yeah! Thanks, B. You really didn't have to do that," Santana responded as she started making them each a plate of the bacon, eggs, and toast she had made.

"It was no problem at all. I figured I should stock up so we wouldn't have to keep stopping by the coffee shop every time you stay over on a work night. Then, you told me about that new brand you tried the other day, and I figured I'd go buy you a pack since you seemed to like it," she replied, pouring Santana a cup and making it with the way she liked before filling her glass with orange juice.

"Well, it's still very much appreciated. Anyways, are you ready to eat?"

"Yes, ma'am. Let's go!" Brittany answered excitedly as she picked up their drinks and followed her girlfriend to the table.

* * *

After spending the rest of their last day off enjoying each other's company, the girls were forced to accept the fact that they had to return to reality the following morning.

As usual, Brittany woke up first, shutting off the alarm clock and peppered kisses all over Santana's face until the accountant finally started to stir. Once she was sure the woman was awake, she announced that she was going to make a pot of coffee and that she expected to see her up and about in a few minutes or else she would have to resort to using her attack kisses.

Heeding her warning, Santana made it into the kitchen just in time to find Brittany still standing in front of the coffee pot, glancing back and forth between the package of coffee and the measuring spoon in her hand with a confused look on her face.

"Hey, Britt. Everything okay?"

Letting out a frustrated huff, the advertising executive replied, "Yeah, I'm just having trouble understanding the instructions. It says one tablespoon per six fluid ounces, but all I could find was my teaspoon thingy. Then, the instructions for the coffee use fluid ounces while the coffee maker is measured in cups. Honestly, I can't remember how many of which is in what because I haven't done conversions like this since, like, the fifth grade or something." There was a short pause before she grumpily muttered, "I know I usually say that you shouldn't hate anything, but I really, really _hate_ the English measuring system right now."

"It's okay, B. I got it," Santana chuckled as she took the bag of coffee grounds and measuring device to start scooping the coffee grounds into the filter that had already been placed inside the coffee maker. She was still fighting to hide her amusement after witnessing the ever elusive 'Grumpy Britt' two days in a row when she turned on the machine and leaned over to give the girl a kiss on the cheek. Pulling away, she informed, "It's two teaspoons per tablespoon, but don't ask me about fluid ounces to cups because I have no idea." She finally released the smile she had been holding back as soon as she heard the blonde giggle, knowing full well she had successfully turned her mood back around.

"Okay. Thanks for the teaspoon thing, at least."

"No problem. If you don't mind me asking, why do you even have a coffee maker if you don't like to drink it?"

"Well, my dad has to have his coffee in the morning so he bought me one to keep here for the rare occasions when he and my mom fly in for a visit. Anyways, what do you want to eat?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm not really all that hungry right now."

"Santana," Brittany chastised as she gave her a stern look.

"Okay, fine. Um, do you still have those little blueberry muffin things?" Santana asked as her resolve crumbled and she immediately gave into the blonde's demands.

"Yep, I sure do."

"Alright, then just put a pack of those next to the coffee pot, and I'll eat them when I come back to make myself a cup."

"Sure thing, Babe. Thank you."

"De nada," Santana said, springing a surprise pop quiz on Brittany at the blonde's request.

"Um, that means 'you're welcome,' right?" Brittany answered with a questioning expression as she put the bag of muffins next to Santana's coffee mug.

With a proud grin, Santana gave her a nod in confirmation, "See, I knew I was dating a genius."

"Yeah, well, you're going to be dating an unemployed genius if we don't leave soon so stop dillydallying and get your butt in gear," she responded, giving the brunette a quick tab on the behind as she dashed past her to go change.

"Oh, you're so lucky we have get ready for work right now," Santana playfully threatened in a raised voice as chased after her girlfriend.

* * *

Santana had just finished booting up her computer and getting everything organized on top of her desk when she looked across to the all too familiar window of Brittany's office, noticing that the woman had already stuck her white board on the windowsill.

_"Good morning, Ms. Lopez."_

Opening her desk drawer, Santana pulled out the large bag of Skittles Brittany had bought her so she could hopefully get the other woman's attention. After a few failed attempts, she eventually managed to hit the right window and watched the ad executive walk into view.

Once she was looking, Santana held up the message she had already written out on her own dry erase board, "Good_ morning to you, as well, Ms. Pierce. How are you today?"_

_"So far, pretty great. I got to wake up next to totally hot girlfriend, and then she let me escort her all the way to work, which was awesome. How about you?" _Brittany replied.

_"Ironically [not so ironically] the exact same."_

_"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that. Oh, and in case you were still wondering, I made it into the office right on time, meaning Chris didn't fire me. Score!"_

_"Britt, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have fired you either way. I mean, he's the one who knowingly allows us to talk on these boards throughout the majority of our workday, so I think you're pretty much golden."_

Brittany quirked her eyebrows in confusion before sending back, _"Um, San, I'm pretty sure I'm made out of cellular tissue... At least, that's what they told me in that biology class I took back in college."_

Now feeling just as baffled as the blonde, Santana asked, _"Wait, why did you take a biology class if you were an advertising major?"_

_"Well, someone once told me that it biology is the study of life, and I thought that just meant that they were going to teach us stuff about the meaning of life. Turns out, I was wrong though. Like really, really wrong."_

Santana didn't even try to stop the goofy grin that instantly appeared on her face as she took a moment to scribble down a response, _"So, how did you end up doing in the class?"_

_"Oh, it was an easy A. Apparently, I'm pretty good at biology."_

_"Well, I'm not all that surprised."_

_"Of course you're not. You think I'm super, super smart."_

_"I don't think. I know."_

_"Ah, yes. So sorry. Let me rephrase that: 'You [know] I'm super, super smart.' Better?"_

_"Yes, perfect."_

_"Awesome. By the way, I walked in earlier to find an invitation to Patty and Gerry's wedding on my desk."_

_"Aw, that's great!"_

Giving her a nod in agreement, Brittany suddenly turned bashful as she sent back a message saying, _"Yeah, I was actually wondering if you maybe wanted to go as my plus one."_

Amused by the blonde's unceasing adorableness, she answered,_ "Yeah, of course. I'd love to."_

_"Good because the invitation was addressed to both of us anyways," _Brittany replied, giving her an exaggerated wink.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Thank you for reading. I would also like to thank everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed. As always, it is very much appreciated._

_This chapter took me completely by surprise, and I'm still not sure whether or not that is a good thing because most of the plot for this is extremely different from the one I had originally planned. To be honest, the story kind of took over itself for this chapter, but I just did my absolute best to write it the way it wanted to go. Regardless, I really hope you found it worthwhile._

_Again, thank you all so much for everything, and I hope to see you all next time with the last chapter before the two-part epilogue._

_YouTube Link of the Happy Feet scene referenced in case you haven't seen it or just need a little refresher:_

watch?v=KOttBx1wS7I


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